War of Hope
by Colb-a-nater
Summary: The year is around 3067 and an orgaization called RAM has taken over the world. Pokemon haven't been seen for years...until one Pikachu walks over to human territory. Rated T for lots of action. I don't own Pokemon, so don't sue! Better summery inside.
1. Day One

The War of Hope

* * *

Introduction

The year was 2995 when the humans saw how much destruction they where doing to each other, so every representative of each country in the world came to a meeting to discus peace.

In 2998 the Treaty of Dove was signed, and world peace reined. All the countries of the world became one and named themselves the Union. But, because they were a whole new country, they needed a leader. However, no one seemed suitable for the position.

Luckily, an archaeologist found the remains of a famous trainer named Ash Kechem. Everyone in the country had heard of his journeys and life threatening trips he took to become the best. He was a legend, and the humans desperately wanted him or someone like him to lead. But after the public was told that cloning has almost perfected, everyone wanted Ash to come back and become president.

Scientists from around the globe came to try to bring back the legend with just an almost decayed body. Luckily, thanks to the modern science they had, the scientist where able to successfully clone Ash. They where even able to give back his entire memory!

Because of the sudden time change, it took awhile to explain everything to the about-to-be-leader. How he was still alive, who he was back in his teenaged body, and what time period it was.

After that, Ash accepted his new job and lead the human race like no other leader, making sure that everyone was able to get a good job and that there were no poor people laying on the streets and only applying taxes when completely necessary. He also cared for us, the Pokemon. He made sure that we had the same rights as the humans and illegalize hunting or hurting us in any way (besides Pokemon battles).

Peace flew through the world for years.

But, to every Ying, there is a Yang. That "Yang" was a small island, not owned by the Union, but by three organizations: Team Rocket, Team Aqua, and Team Magma.

The three organizations ran to the island when they found out that their legendary enemy was live again and was the most powerful person in the world.

For about ten years, the island was separated into three sections for each organization. Then, in the year 3000, the three organizations decided to join each other. That was when the Treaty of Blood was signed by each leader of the three organizations.

The now one, new organization named themselves the RAM. The Union was unaware of the island or the hostile organization that was growing in it.

They regretted not paying attention, for, in the year 3004, the RAM attacked all of the coasts on the south side of the Union. The Union wasn't ready for such an attack, and it costed them the entire south side of the country.

After seeing such an unexpected attack by an unexpected opponent, all heads turned to the president. He was unprepared for such decisions, but didn't give up.

On 3005, the Union declared war on RAM. The RAM expected this, and where ready, unlike the Union.

Because the Union was so peaceful, weapons were a rare sight, and because of this, most hope went onto the Pokemon (my ancestors) and their trainers. All the scientists were ordered to make weapons and anything else the Union could use to fight back at RAM.

The scientists made some high tech weapons, but they were in such a rush to make them, for everyone was worried that the RAM would attack again, just like last time. But, because of this, most of the weapons broke before they could shoot.

On 3008, RAM moved their forces up to the north side of the Union and attacked. The Union fought back, but their weapons were too weak and low tech compared to that of the RAM's, and the Pokemon (my ancestors) fell like flies.

The Union lost that battle, and the president, Ash, was getting worried. He wasn't the only one. The government became desperate and went ahead and ordered their scientists to somehow make more advanced Pokemon with genetic altering, without asking permission from the president.

Many of my ancestors were killed by those human scientists, with mistakes and incorrect calculation, but there was one specimen that was successful.

He started as a human teenager, but the scientists changed him into a half Pikachu, half human organism.

After he found out what the humans did to him, he became furious and killed all of the scientists. He blamed everything on the humans and their leader. He even refused to call himself a human, for it was a disgrace. He then went to every Pokemon in the world and convinced every one of them to leave the humans. . .forever.

No one is sure how he told every single Pokemon, maybe he told some Pokemon and then they told other fellow Pokemon and they told other Pokemon and so on. But, in about ten years, every Pokemon on the planet left to an uncharted island, away from the humans.

Ash tried to stop my ancestors from leaving, but they ignored every human that they laid eyes on. It seemed that all hope was lost.

Because all the Pokemon left and their weapons weren't very good, the Union kept losing battle after battle from more invasion troops of RAM. In less then a month, the Union had lost almost 79 of their land to the RAM.

Ash kept trying to fight back, but the RAM just had too advanced technology and too many people in their army. It was next to impossible to stop them.

On the year of 3017, the Union started pointing fingers at each other and eventually decided to break apart and return to their old, divided, selfish countries. In fact, one representative of a country went up to where the Treaty of Dove was held and tore it apart.

Ash was torn apart along with the treaty when he saw his united country, divide in front of his eyes.

It really made everything worse, for because they were divided, their armies where split to even smaller armies.

In the year 3021, RAM had taken over all the countries, along with the world. They never found Ash, though. No one knows where he went or how he escaped.

Some say that he hid himself somewhere to never be found, some say that he killed himself and his body was buried before the RAM got there. No one's for sure.

You ask me? I think that he did escape and went somewhere to start a new rebel army. But, so far, he hasn't.

Who am I, you ask? I'm a young, male, Pikachu who lives at the uncharted island. Everything that I have just told you was the same stuff my grandparents and the Elders told me.

It has been 50 years after that long war, and none of us have seen a human for about 65 years. The only way we know about them is with the bed time stories that our parents and grandparents tell us at night. On every full moon, though, the Elders will come and tell us stories of the war or stories of the humans or of the "trainers".

What about the genetically altered Human-Pikachu? He is now our leader and forever will be. Apparently, the human scientists also altered his DNA to were his body stays in his teenaged form and he can't get any older.

Where do I come in? My mother has gotten a deadly virus and we don't have a cure for it. But, there have been rumors of a flower that could cure my mother. . .but it's over in human territory.

I've had to sneak out and steel one of our boats that we use to gather sea weed and use it to go all the way to the forbidden territory. I couldn't even tell our great leader where I was going, because it was against the law to even think about it. But I had a mission, I had to save my mother, and that was what I was going to do, no matter what.

* * *

Day 1

After being on that boat for days, I had eventually found land, or what I think is land. The ground was made of broken black stuff and large pieces of metal. Some of it even poked out of the ground and towered above my small yellow body.

Well, I walked for a few days, sleeping behind some of the metal as a hiding place (it wouldn't be very good if a human saw me if they are real). I still haven't found the rumored flower yet, but the rumors did say that it took a few days walk inland to eventually find it. At least I was hopeful.

Now we're at present time, what I'm doing right now. Unfortunately, right now I'm trying to find some food because my stomach has been growling for hours. I haven't eaten in days sense I got here and there seems to be no food anywhere. How do humans live in this stuff? How did they keep the sharp metal out of their feet? Maybe they just ignore it.

Speaking of humans, I haven't seen one yet! Where are these things? All the stories said that they were everywhere. So then where the hell are they?

I looked around me, trying to scan the area.

Endless broken pieces of metal and endless pieces of black rocks over them. Maybe the war the humans had made this mess.

What were they called? . . .Started with a B. . .bo. . .bobms?. . .no. . .bombs? Yea, that's it! Bombs. Those big things that blow stuff up. Maybe the humans kept throwing those things at each other and made this mess.

You can't even see the ground! Where's the grass? And the trees? The sky here isn't even blue, it's black! Black, like the ground I am now stepping on.

I shook my head in disgrace. No wonder our leader didn't like the humans.

I started walking again, hoping that I'll find the flower I'm looking for.

I kept walking. . .and walking. . .and walking. . .forever walking over the black sea. I watched the sun slowly move through the sky. Going up into the sky, then back down into the earth.

The minuets felt like hours, and the hours felt like days. Was there no end to this black sea? Could I keep going on like this?

After walking and watching the sun set in the sky (again), I heard something. Something. . .different. Could it be?

I saw a near by hunk of metal stinking out of the ground and hid behind it, allowing it's shadow to cover me. The noise was growing louder. It sounded like foot steps, but not like the ones I'm used to hearing.

It sounded like four feet. How many feet did humans have? Three? No. . .two?

I slowly looked over the metal that I was hiding behind and saw them. Two. . .things where walking over the ground. They didn't have any fur (except their heads) on their bodies, they had five fingers, their bodies where covered up with some torn up. . . what were they called again?. . .clothes? Clothes! And they had white skin. Could these be the humans? Could these things be the mystical creatures that I could only see in my dreams? Not exactly I pictured.

I imagined them as creatures that could grow up to eight feet high, muscles that could break rock, and have more and better abilities than any Pokemon that I've seen. But, these things looked too weak to walk and too bony to have any rock-breaking muscles.

One was a young male and the other was a much older female. A mother and son? Did humans have children? If so, where is the father?

As they walked on their two legs, I could hear them talking in hushed voices, as if they where trying to keep whatever they were saying secret.

"Don't worry, Mom. No one comes out here in fear of the RAM officers, and they don't even come here," said the male human.

Wait, I could understand them? They weren't speaking in the tongues I'm used to, and yet I could understand them? I stored those thoughts in my head for later and listened to the female.

"How could you say that? 'Don't worry.' Of course I should worry! This territory is off limits. If anyone where to find us here. . ." said the female, worried.

"Look around you, Mom. No one's here. There's only metal and tar here, no officers, no people!" reassured the young male.

The female stopped walking and turned towards her son. I could tell that there was something troubling the human mother, but what?

"I just don't want you to get hurt, Matt. I'm worried that if someone does see us here, you might get hurt. Just like. . .him," said the female and started crying.

She was crying? Humans could cry? As I watched the female's tears come running out of her eyes, I remembered my own mother. She had the same amount of worry for me as this human had for her son. Maybe we're not as different as I thought. But, who was "him"?

I watched as the son whipped the tear off his mother's cheek.

"Dad was a great man, and you know that. We'll be safer here, I promise you." The son reached his hands into a tare in his clothes. "Lets try not to worry. Here, lets eat some food and rest," finished the son.

The male pulled his hand out of the tare in his clothing and pulled out a fruit. It had brown spots and bruises everywhere, but it was still edible. I had been days sense I've eaten anything, and seeing that fruit made me lick my lips.

It also made my stomach growl. The humans heard it and looked around, searching for source of the sound.

I placed my body fully behind the metal the helped hide me. I slowed by breath, kept very still, and tried not to make a sound.

I could hear the humans slowly walk closer to my hiding spot.

Crunch. . .crunch. . .went their feet on the black ground as they walked.

Then, they stopped and turned around, looking a different way. A slight sign of relief came to me and I slowly exhaled my breath.

Then, my stomach growled again, now louder then ever. The humans stopped and ran my direction.

Did my stomach want to get me killed? I had no where to hide except this metal, and it about to be discovered!

I looked around me, trying to find another hiding spot, but there was none! So, I stayed where I was, keeping as still as ever. Right now, all I could do was listen to the sound of the human foot steps as they walked.

Wait, walk? They where running just a few seconds before. Something's up. Should I turn my head to look over the metal? Should I stand here and wait for them to get me?

The footsteps stopped. What where they doing now?

I decided to check if they were gone, but I knew I was going to regret it.

I slowly turned my head and looked over the metal, without making a sound. The humans were gone, and I couldn't hear or see anything besides the black ground. I slowly turned my head back to my hiding spot and gave a quiet sigh of relief.

All of a sudden, the young male human popped out of nowhere and was about to grab me! He threw his hands towards me. . .but stopped, his hands inches from my head. He started looking at me with wonder and amassment. He must have been expecting someone or something else, for his hands just stayed in the air in front of me. His eyes where wide as they gazed upon my body.

"You're a. . .a. . .," said the male as he stared at me.

I didn't have many options. A human has spotted me and I have to act fast. Defend myself? Defend from what? This human isn't attacking me. . .yet.

I have to act before he does. So, I jumped up onto the piece of metal and placed my foot on it. Then, I pushed off the wall, allowing me to go higher, and swung my tail down on the human's head, sending him to the ground. This happened in only seconds, so the human didn't have time to block.

The male didn't expect it either, so he fell down like a rock. His head hit the ground pretty hard, knocking him out. But I shouldn't worry about him, he's not my responsibility.

"Matt? Matt, where did you go?" said the female.

I forgot about her. If she sees the male's body here, she'll be suspicious.

But, I had more stuff to worry about.

I heard more footsteps, this time it wasn't from the female, but from other humans. . .much more. I left the male's body where it was and hid now on the other side of the piece of metal, away from the footsteps. Man, the times when you wish you weren't yellow, especially when you're around black ground.

The footsteps stopped right in front of the female (who was on the other side of the metal). I looked over the metal and saw some other humans, but these weren't bony and didn't wear torn up clothes. They had some metal sticks strapped to their backs and wore green clothes. There seemed to be about ten of the green clothed humans, and they had the word "RAM" spelled on the side of their arms. Could this be the legendary RAM?

"What are you doing here, ma'am?" asked a dark, skinned RAM human.

"I'm just walking by. That's all," said the female, a sense of fear in her voice.

"This area is off limits to everyone except RAM officers and personnel," said the dark, skinned RAM.

"What? I had no idea-" started the female, but was hit on the head by one of the RAM's metal sticks. The female fell down to the hard ground with a THUD. But, she was still conscious.

"Of course you knew! Everyone is notified whenever there is a change," said the RAM human.

"I'm sorry, I don't have a-" said the female, but was again smacked on the head with the metal stick.

"Don't lie woman!" shouted the dark, skinned RAM.

The female fell to the ground, clutching her head that was struck. Another RAM human (a whiter one) kicked her.

"Who else is with you?" he asked.

"Please! S-stop!" begged the beaten female.

The white, skinned RAM human kicked her again, but harder now.

"Was there anyone else with you?" asked the dark, skinned human again.

The female didn't speak. She must not want to tell the RAM where her son was.

The dark, skinned RAM human pointed to a black, skinned RAM human, then pointed back at the beaten up female. He held his metal stick up and pointed the end of it at the female. I was able to see some letters and numbers on the side of the metal stick. It said "AK-47".

BANG! A flash came out of the metal stick and went into the female. She fell down, dead. Her body was oozing red blood onto the black ground.

I hid my head back behind the metal piece, shocked of what I just saw. These humans have made some kind of weapon that could kill someone easily!

Wait, this sounds familiar. Yea, it was called a. . .a. . .gun! That's it, a gun. Yea! I mean, oh no!

"Search around the parameter. Someone was defiantly with her," ordered the dark RAM human.

The other RAM humans spread out and started searching everywhere.

"Mm?" The male human was gaining back consciousness and making too much noise.

The RAM heard him and walked up to him, right behind my metal hiding place. I pulled my head back behind the metal. I now had no choice but to keep quiet and listen.

"You there! What are you doing on the ground like that?" asked the RAM human.

I could hear the male still try to find out what had just happened, then I heard someone hit him.

"What where you doing, boy?" asked a RAM human. It sounded like the dark, skinned one.

"I s-saw a Pokemon," said the male, dreamily.

I heard some chuckles, laughs, and questions from some of the RAM.

"What is a 'Pokemon'?" asked one.

"Wha'? You's never eard of Pokemon? Who as never eard of Pokemon?" said a RAM that I didn't hear before. He had a weird slang in his words.

"You know! They're those little. . .um. . .things that where here before the war," said another RAM officer. So I'm a "thing" now?

"Will all of you just shut up?!" said the voice of the dark, skinned RAM. "Now look, Pokemon haven't been sighted for over fifty years. It's impossible that you saw one. We're not stupid, so tell us the real reason why you're here."

"But, that is the truth! I saw a small, yellow Pokemon! It saw me too, and then it attacked me and knocked me out," said the male.

I heard a thud. Someone just hit the male hard.

"We just saw the other lady and took care of her because she refused to answer our questions. We'll do the same thing to you if you don't cooperate," said the RAM human.

"You killed my mother?!" gasped the male.

I heard another thud. They hit him again.

"Answer our question!" demanded the dark RAM human.

"I told you! I saw a yellow Pokemon! I was walking by and I saw it! Then It attacked me!" said the male.

First, I'm a "thing", now I'm an "it". Geez, these humans have no respect for us.

I heard some more movement, then heard metal rubbing on skin. CLICK. They where about to shoot him! I had to do something! But, what?

"Wait," said one RAM human.

"What?" said the voice of the dark, skinned human.

This could be enough time for me to help, but could I fight all of them? There where ten, plus they had guns. My odds where very slim. The pitcher of the female human dying with only one shot came to my head. They could kill me easily.

"Shoot him on the side so he'll suffer and die, instead of instantly killing him with no pain," suggested a RAM human.

I could hear some of the other RAM humans agreeing and the movement of a gun.

BAM! I closed my eyes as I heard the awful sound. They shot him! Just like his mother!

"Ah!" shouted the male and started groaning in pain. He was still alive? I did hear one of the RAM say to shoot him on the side. Did you have to shoot at a certain spot to kill?

I could still hear the male groan in pain. What if you could still die from one shot?

More small foot steps, then a small whisper. The dark, skinned human was whispering something into the young male human's ear.

"Lets see if your 'Pokemon' will come to save you from this." A small chuckle. "See you later, Boy," said a RAM human.

I heard their footsteps as they walked away. I waited until the foot steps where out of ear shot and silently looked over the metal to see the wounded male.

He was on the ground and clutching the side of his stomach, which was bleeding badly.

Should I help him? He was losing a lot of blood. Then, I thought, _What am I saying? He's a human! It was bad enough to come here, but for me to help a human?_

I saw the male slowly release his side, while wincing in pain from doing so. He had a large, red hole next to his hip. Blood was pouring out, making his clothes all wet with red.

He does look in bad shape. He won't be alive for long unless I do something.

_Stop! You can't just walk around and help some random human! _Said my conscious.

I was my fault that he is like this. If I didn't knock him out. . .heck, if I wasn't even here, none of this would've happened. I have to help him!

_No! You are not going to help that human! Have you forgotten all the stories? They did experiments on us! They forced us to fight our own kind, just for entertainment!_

There where other stories that told of good humans. What about Ash? He helped both humans and Pokemon. I should do the same!

_You're going to regret it. . ._

I knew that I was, but this human needed my help. I got him into this mess, so I need to get him out.

Before I could do anything though, I saw him dig his hand into the bleeding hole on his side. He shouted in pain, but kept digging. Then, he slowly pulled out his closed hand. As he opened his hand to see what he had pulled out, I saw a small, thin, silver, metal object. Did the gun shoot that out and into his body? How could something so small kill a person so easily? The male discarded the metal and tried to tend the wound.

That wound won't heal without proper treatment. First off, it will get infected if it's not cleaned. That's what I need to do first.

I walked out of my hiding spot and walked up to the male. He saw me and looked terrified, afraid that I came back to hurt him more. _Good job with the first impression._

I slowly walked closer to him, trying not to startle him with sudden movements.

"No! No! Back! Back!" shouted the male. He tried to scoot away from me, but the pain of doing so refused it.

"Don't worry! I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sorry for what I did before, but I'm going to make it up to you," I said.

Apparently, he didn't understand me, for he made a face that said so. That's weird, I can understand him, but he can't understand me.

I tried waving my arms and shaking my head, trying to communicate and tell him that I'm not going to hurt him. He kept shouting "Back!" to me, like I was cursed or something.

I slowly walked closer to him and held up two paw fingers. A peace sign. Hopefully, Pokemon body language worked the same way with humans. I suppose it did, because the male stopped scooting back and looked at my peace sign.

"Wait. . .How do you know-" he started, but more pain from his wound stopped his sentence.

I walked up to his wound and looked closely at it. He allowed me to come closer, but he was still cautious. I wouldn't blame him.

As I inspected the wound, he stared at me, as if I was some kind of beautiful angel that descended from heaven. He watched me with awe.

I laid both of my paws on his wound. He winced a little, but didn't stop me. Back at home, I helped out at our Medical Center for Injured Pokemon, MCIP. There, my friend, a fellow Chancy, taught me the ways of first aid. However, I'm not sure if first aid for Pokemon is the same with humans. Some of the stuff I've learned could kill a human being, for all I know. But, I have to clean this wound for him to survive.

"How?. . .Who?. . ." said the male as he watched. Was he trying to say something to me? "Are you a Pokemon?" asked the human.

I looked up from his side and nodded my head. Of course I was, what else could I be? On the other hand, he has never seen my species before. I was the same, just vice-versa.

"Wo-wow. . .Just. . .wow." Apparently, the human couldn't find the right words to express what he was encountering right now. I was surprised myself.

"This will hurt," I said, hoping that he could understand it. I pushed harder on the wound and did a small thunder shock into the bleeding hole. Sparks of electricity ran down from my cheeks, down my arms, and into the wound. I concentrated on keeping the electricity in the bleeding hole and only the hole. I can't allow it to spread through the human's body.

The male screamed in pain as my thunder shock crawled into his wound. I hatted to see him in such pain, but I have to do this. My electricity will kill all of the germs inside the wound and stop it from infecting.

After a few seconds, I thought that was enough and stopped my electricity. The human stopped his screaming, the pain slowly drifting off. However, I suppose it was too much for the young male to handle and he fainted.

* * *

Is anyone more unlucky than me? First, I walk into forbidden territory, then I let a human see me, then some RAM officers come and kill a human and almost kill another in front of me, and now I have to help this almost dead human, who has fainted.

I was able to tare a part of his clothes off and use it to cover the wound and stop the bleeding.

As I sat besides the male's body and stared at his stomach, I thought of home. I thought of my mother, who was still at the MCIP. I thought of all the stories she used to tell me at night.

"_Mommy, could you tell me another story? One about the boy?"_ The memories came flooding into my head.

"_Okay, but only one. Then it's off to bed. I don't want you to be tired tomorrow_." My mother's voice echoed in my head. She always had a soft tone, one that was like a lullaby whenever she talked.

"_There was this one young boy, a trainer, who had a Pokemon."_

"_Was he a Pikachu?"_

"_Who? The boy?"_

"_No, the Pokemon the boy had."_

She laughed. The memory of her laughter made me smile.

"_Okay. The young trainer and the Pikachu were best friends. They always were together and always looked after each other."_

"_Mommy, if the boy and the Pikachu were always together, than why aren't there any here with us?"_

She smiled. The memory of her smile made me even happier. She had that kind of smile that could cheer anyone up.

"_Because, my son, our race has grown apart from them. But only physically, not spiritually."_

"_What's that mean?"_

"_It means that even though there aren't any humans here, they will still be in our hearts."_

After remembering those words, I found myself studying the human laying in front of me. Here was a creature that (to some) didn't exist. Now, I was with this legendary creature physically instead of only spiritually.

"_They're not real, you know."_ More memories from my homeland came to my head. This time, it was I with my friend. An Evee, who had a hard head when it came to believing in humans.

"_What's not real?"_

"_Humans. Boys, girls, you know."_

"_How could you say that?"_

"_How? Look around you. There aren't any! And there never will."_

I shook my head at remembering his ignorance. He just never listened.

"_What about our leader? He's half human. How do you explain that?" _I thought that would make him rethink everything, but he was as hard headed as before.

"_The Elders made up the stories of the humans to explain why our leader looks different. Then, our grannies just added onto the stories."_

"_Why else would he look different?"_

"_Maybe a birth-defect, crossbreed, something like that."_

I never thought about it like that. But, I always kept my hopes up. And now, it has paid off. That "unreal" human was now in front of me.

Suddenly, after thinking all of those thoughts, I had the urge to touch him. This was a chance of a lifetime, being able to feel the skin and clothes on a real human! How many people could say that they have seen a human, none the least being able to touch one?

I got up and walked closer to the male. What was his name? His mother said his name once. . .Started with an M. . .Ma. . .Matt? Yea, Matt!

I placed my paw on his stomach, then rubbed it. It felt smooth and warm to the touch. I trailed my paw down his stomach and then down his arm. His arm didn't have any cloth on, so I was able to feel his skin. Before, I had to feel blood and torn skin, now I can touch real human skin. It was just as smooth as the stomach, but warmer. As I felt it, I noticed that his arm did have some hair on it, but it was too small to see. I walked up to his head and felt his brown hair. It was thick and dirty. Probably from living in such an unclean environment.

I walked back over to his stomach while trailing my paw down his body. Matt squirmed a little bit and chuckled. He must be ticklish.

I picked up my paw from his body and (instead) laid my ear on his chest. I could hear the faint thump, thump of his heart. I soon rested my whole head on his chest, letting his warmth warm me and the sound of his heart lullaby me to sleep.

He must have felt me on his chest, because he woke up and looked at me. He watched me lay on his chest and listen to his heart. He reached his hand up to my head and started petting me. I've never felt a human pet me before. My mother would sometimes pet me when I was little and sad, but this warm human hand felt different. If felt more. . .relaxing.

Matt quickly pulled his hand away from my head when his pain came back. His wound still needs help, even after everything I've done. He still needs medical attention and I can't do any more than what I have done. But where could I take him to get such attention? Did humans have some kind of medical center like us?

I pictured myself walking into a placed filled with dangerous humans and me standing next to the injured male. It could be too risky. It was bad enough that I let Matt the Human see me, I can't let more see me.

So than, where? The MCIP?

_Don't even go there!_

It's possible. It's the only safe place to help Matt without me being seen from another human.

_Maybe, but what about everyone back at home? You think that when you bring in that human they're going to say, "Oh, hello there! How are you today? How is the weather over at the human territory? Please come and have a nice seat on the grass with us! Oh, you're hurt? No problem! We can fix that up right away!"?_

No, but what other choices do I have? His mother is dead, I can't walk into some kind of Human Help Center, I don't know anything about human first aid, I have no other choices!

_You could just leave him there._

I was shocked at even thinking about that. Why would I do that to this dying human?

"Thanks."

The human's sudden words ripped me from my thoughts. I looked towards him and made a face that said, "For what?"

"I'm great full for you helping me with my bullet wound, thank you. I might not even be alive right now if it wasn't for you," said the human named Matt.

His words encouraged me. He said "thank you". I can't let someone die after they told me thank you.

"I guess I'm in your debt now." He chuckled. "Weird, isn't it? A guy like me, owing his life to a Pokemon." I watched him drift off in his thoughts.

He smiled. But, how could he? His mother has died and now he's dying. How could he be finding hope? Could this be one of the things humans do?

"My grandmother told me stories when she was alive. She told me of magical creatures that had magnificent powers and abilities. Some where small while others where huge. She said that these magical creatures where called 'Pokemon'," said the human, Matt.

He looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. So the humans where told stories of us, the Pokemon! Just like my mother, grandmother, and the Elders told us stories of them, the humans! Maybe we're not that different.

"When I first saw you today, I thought of my grandmother and her stories. Now it's like I'm in one of those stories!" said Matt.

He looked at me with his green eyes. He stared into my eyes, as if he was searching for my soul. I stared back, trying to see something else in his eyes as well.

"Could you come closer?" he asked me.

I walked closer to him as he lifted his arm. He laid his hand on my head and felt my fur. He must be just as curious about me as I was about him, so I let him feel my fur on my head. He felt my yellow ears and felt the black tips, he rubbed his finger on my red cheek, and rubbed on my nose. Then he started petting me again. He flinched from doing so, but kept petting me.

While he was petting me, I saw him lay his head down and drift off again.

"If I die right now. . .that would be okay. . .'cause now I've been able to see something people would die for. . ." He paused. He talked as if he was writing his last will. Was he truly ready to die? Could anyone be ready for such a change?

"Thank you. . .for everything. . .Pikachu. . ." And with that, he fell asleep.

I stood there, pondering the human's words. His hand was now limp on my head, but I left it alone.

Would other humans really kill each other. . .just to see me? Could I be really that important?

I stared at the now sleeping human, who was dying. I can't just let him die, not after everything he has said and what I've done to him.

So, it's settled, then. I'll take the human, "Matt", over to my home and give him the medical attention he needs. My boat is still at the coast (if no one has stolen it yet) so I'll use that to get back home. But, it was about a three day walk from the coast to here, and I'm not sure if Matt will live for three days.

_What about the flower?_ I forgot again! Am I really going to sacrifice my own mother for this human?

Matt's hand slid off my head and fell to the ground. When it hit the ground, it moved away some rocks and dirt. I looked down at the fallen hand. . .and gasped.

On the ground, beneath the hand, was a blue petal. I quickly, but carefully, moved aside Matt's hand and grabbed what was underneath it.

I pulled out what looked like a tall, skinny blade of grass that had blue petals all over the sides of it. In my hand was the legendary Blue Bonnet, the flower that could cure my mother from her sickness.

I looked up into the sky. The sun was almost down and it was getting dark. Looks like I better hit the grass. . .or rocks. . .whatever. I now had hope for both the human and my mother.

Please God. . .Please help me with this journey that I have now taken.


	2. Day Two

The War of Hope Day 2

I turned on my nest. I wasn't able to sleep all night last night, and my "nest" was just a pile of rocks. Not very good to sleep on.

I opened my eyes and scanned the area. The ground was still covered in the dark, black rocks and metal laid scattered everywhere. I was still in the human territory.

The sky was as gray as smoke and the clouds looked as if they were smoke.

I looked to my left and saw the sun raise. The slightly red sun was climbing this old, weathered, gray sky as if it was old itself and ready to burn out. Everything seems hopeless here.

Speaking of hopeless, where's the human? Last time I saw him, he was asleep right next to me.

I looked to the right. No Matt.

I looked back to the left. Still, no Matt.

Where did he go? He couldn't have gone too far away, after all he was still wounded. I turned around to look behind me, but there was just the large piece of metal that helped hide me yesterday. I walked to the other side of the metal, but he wasn't there either.

"Matt!" I shouted._ Stop it! You don't want another human to hear you!_ Said my consciousness.

Where did he go? Where could he go? I started running around the hunk of metal, making desperate loops.

Could he have gone to the other humans and told them of my existence? Could another band of RAM be making their way over to me right now?

I stopped. _Stop making so many conclusions! _I told myself. I started hitting myself with my hand, trying to get a grip.

Then, a noise came. A large growl of that from a demon from the debts of hell itself. The growl grew up in pitch, then went low and more base like.

I scanned the area once more. Where is that noise coming from? What was that noise coming from?

The growling stopped.

I stood there, scared out of my wits. If someone where to walk up behind me, I would have yelped and ran for cover.

The growling started again. But now, it was at a more pinpoint location. I rolled my eyes and looked down. . .at my stomach. I haven't eaten in such a long time that my stomach was growling like it was a Poochenda.

That was also one of the other reasons that I couldn't get much sleep, my stomach kept growling and kept me awake with pain of hunger. The same hunger that got me into this mess with the human in the first place.

Then, there was another noise. The noise of feet, crunching on the ground as they walked. But, these foot steps had an odd pattern in them. First, a quick crunch, then a dragging of a foot over the black soil. A limping motion?

I turned around to face the source of the foot steps. . .and found Matt. He was a distance off and was limping toward my direction, with a hand over his wound. Why would he walk off like that? Doesn't he know that he could die out there?

I looked beyond him to see if there were any RAM. None. He didn't betray me.

I took a sigh of relief and ran over to the human. He saw me coming and slowed his pace. Perhaps too slow, for his front foot got caught on a slightly larger rock and made him trip, making him fall face first onto the ground.

That can't be good. I ran faster towards him to make sure that he was okay. When I reached him, he wasn't moving much. Was he dead? I tried nudging him. . .he groaned. I sighed for relief again.

The human turned his face towards me and smiled. His face had black and brown spots all over it. Why and where did he go?

"Hey, there," Matt said to me. I just stared. Was this what humans do when they're in pain?

My stomach growled again. That made the human laugh.

"Your stomach kept growling the whole night, so I got you these," said Matt.

He extended an arm with a clenched hand. When his arm was close to me, he opened his hand to reveal a couple of red berries. Food!

I was so hungry that I almost yanked the food and gobbled it down, but I had to resist myself. I didn't know what to do. . .I was. . .confused. Why did this human risk his life and safety just to look for food?

"Go on. Take it," said Matt, still laying on the ground with an extended arm.

I hesitated, then took the berries. They were a little bit bruised and dirty, but what-the-hey! I got food! In a matter of seconds, all the berries were gone and in my belly. It wasn't enough to fill me, but it was enough to stop my stomach from growling for a while.

"Looks like you were hungry, little guy," said the human and laughed again, but had to stop due to the pain from his wound.

That reminded me why I was with the human: To take him to the MCIP back at my island home. That reminded me of the flower. Now, where did I last put it?

I looked on the ground, around the human, around myself, but still couldn't find where I put it.

I stopped. . .and slapped myself on the head, and grabbed the Blue Bonnet off the top of my head. I placed it between my ear and my head so I that wouldn't loose it. Now we're ready to go.

But how am I going to get this human to start moving? When I saw him walking, it looked as if he had trouble doing so. I sighed again. Just more work for me.

_This wouldn't have happened if you left him._

I ignored the thought and tried to tell the human to get up.

"Okay! Come on! Lets go! Get up!" I said, trying to say something that he understood.

He stared at me with puzzlement. Maybe he didn't understand anything at all.

I tried body language. I tried raising my arms down and up. Another puzzled look. I tried sitting down and standing up. He thought I was doing tricks for him.

I finally just walked up to him and started pulling at his arm.

"Oh! You what me to get up?" he asked. No der, genius.

Well, he finally understood and tried to get up. His wound tried to stop him from moving so much, so I had to help him. After awhile, he was able to stand back on both feet and gain balance.

However, when he took his first step, he groaned with pain from doing so. Man, that wound is becoming a real pain. . .literally.

He tried to take a second step, but almost tripped over himself. He caught his balance by using my head to push himself back up. He caught me surprised and I almost tripped over myself from the sudden weight.

I helped him regain his balance (with my head) and pulled his hand off my head. Then, I grabbed the flower that was in-between my head and my ear, and placed it in the tare in his clothes. I figured that sense he was able to store fruit in there, maybe he was able to store my flower while we walked.

He noticed me putting the flower in his tare and looked at me.

"What did you put in my pocket?" he asked. A "pocket"? Is that what the humans called it?

He pulled out my flower and examined it.

"A Blue Bonnet. . .How did you get one of these? And why?" asked the human again.

I wanted to answer him, but I knew that he wouldn't be able to understand me.

Matt shrugged and placed the flower back in his. . .what did he call it again?. . .His flocket? Or bocket?. . .no. . .pocket! That's it!

"I suppose if it's important to you, I'll keep hold of it. After all, I do owe you," said Matt with a smile. I returned the smile.

I let him use my head to help balance him and we started walking. Did the human know where I was taking him? I don't know.

Maybe he didn't care where I took him. After all, were else could he go? Both of his parents are dead and he's dying as we speak. Maybe he truly trusted me.

I guess this is the trust that we had made so quickly. I wonder if this was how my ancestors felt.

* * *

The sun was raising from the Earth when we started walking. Now it towered above us in the sky.

I was taught that the sun gives life to all living things in this world. If that was true, then why doesn't it give us a little slack on the heat?

My fur was wet from sweat and my head was wet from the sweat from Matt. Already, we were sharing too many things.

And if the sun gave us life, than where is the nourishment? My hunger was slightly gone (thanks to the berries), but now my body begged for water. My tung felt like tree bark in my mouth and my mouth felt like sand. Even Matt muttered under his breath for water.

"Water. . .water. . ." he mumbled. I wish he would stop. It just kept getting me thirstier.

How long was it sense I last had a drink? Three days? Four?

_Think about something else besides water. It'll just make you more thirsty._

Our steps crunched over the black ground. Crunch, crunch. Crunch, crunch. It was like a beat. As if our feet were making a song to try to cheer us up.

I listened to our feet. Tried to think of the beat they were making, and started humming. Matt heard me, and tried to hum along. Of course, he didn't know the song, but after a couple of beats, he got the idea.

After awhile, he even added some words.

"Everybody was Kong-Fu fighting. Those kicks were fast as lighting!" he sang.

I've never heard of this song before, but it had a good beat to it, so I kept humming along.

"In fact it was little bit freighting, but they fought with expert timing!"

He released his hand from my head and started dancing. Or, I think it was dancing, for he was throwing punches and trying to do kicks in the air.

After awhile, he had to stop. The pain from his wound wouldn't allow him to even dance. He stopped singing and panted a little. The joy from the song was gone from him.

Now, it was my turn to dance. If he was using fighting moves, than maybe I could use some of my moves to dance.

I got in front of him and made a pose to get his attention. He watched me as I sprang off my feet and flipped in the air, followed by me landing on my paws and launching myself back into the air. Then, I landed on my feet. He stared in awe.

Could humans not do a simple back flip? Well, I liked the impressed look on his face, so I kept doing more "dance" moves. As he watched me, he starting singing his song again.

"There where funky China men, for funky China Town. They chopping bent up, they chopping bent down."

I was really getting into the grove now. I was spinning in the air, doing front and black flips, attacking invisible opponents, and letting out my electricity to show off. Matt was thrilled at my tricks. Finally, someone I can show off to!

Now he walked a little closer to me and stood strait. I stopped.

"We took a bow-" he bowed to me from his hips. I followed.

"-and made a stance-" he placed both of his fists up in a fighting stance. His stance was very similar to the fighting tribe back at home.

I got into my pouncing stance (the stance that uses my size to the advantage).

"-started swinging with the hand. Sudden motion made me skip, now we're into a brand-new trip!"

He made some slow, playful punches at me. Just playing along with his song, I made slow playful attacks. I didn't hit him and he didn't hit me. We where just playing and singing the song. Laughing and joking.

"Pika!" I said. It wasn't a word, just a sound that I make when I'm happy. I laughed as I did a tail whip at him and he dogged it.

He slowly raised his foot to kick, but had to place it back on the ground due to his wound. Man, that thing really knows when to ruin a good time.

"Well that sucks. Right when we where having fun!" said Matt. He laughed again. I did the same.

Look at us. A human and a Pokemon, playing and laughing with each other. Risking both of their lives for each other, without even noticing or thinking about it. Maybe we where the first two to do so in over fifty years.

Our laughter echoed far away from us, but we didn't care. There was no one here and we where having fun.

"Hey! Who's there?"

I guess I spoke too soon.

Me and Matt looked around. I could hear something heavy rolling over the black ground. It was close. . .too close.

I hid behind Matt. Whoever or whatever was coming was coming to the front of my human friend. I still couldn't let anyone else see me.

Now, the noise was louder. But where was it coming from?

I climbed on Matt's back and looked over his shoulder.

I slapped myself for not seeing it before. To our right were multiple "trees" of metal, standing tall and weak. Through the metal, I could make out a. . .rolling. . .metal. . .thing.

It had circled shaped rubber (which was making the rolling sound), was covered in metal from top to bottom, had another (yet smaller) circled shaped rubber object inside the thing. But, that wasn't what made me slap myself for not seeing it before.

Inside the thing, where two humans. Both wore green and both had the word RAM spelled across their shoulders. The RAM had heard us.

We must have been too loud and too distracted when we were playing that we didn't even notice the RAM coming.

Did they see me without me noticing? Was that why they were coming right now? Either way, this doesn't look like it'll end every good.

"Lakachu-" started Matt.

"Pikachu," I corrected.

"Sorry. When, that car comes over here and the RAM climb out of it, I want you to go run and hide somewhere so they won't see you," said Matt.

A "car"? Was that this contraption that the RAM were riding?

Wait, he wants me to hide? Wouldn't that just put him in even more danger? Or is he trying to do that to protect me?

I shook my head. I'm not going to leave someone defenseless in front of someone like the RAM. He sighed.

"I thought you would say that. But remember, they have guns too."

The memory of Matt's mother dying in front of me appeared in my head.

Guns. The most destructive thing I have ever seen in my life. I nodded. He returned the nod and looked strait at the RAM car.

I folded my ears back and let only a portion of my head stick out above Matt's shoulder so that I could see.

They came in a matter of seconds. One RAM was white skinned with brown hair, while the other was black with black hair. Both of them climbed out of the car with guns in their hands.

"What are you doing here?" asked the black colored one. He aimed his gun squarely on Matt's chest.

"Truthfully, I don't know. I think I'm lost," said Matt.

The white colored one, eyed Matt suspiciously. Over Matt's shoulder, I could see him look at Matt's bloody, bandaged wound.

"Where did you get that?" asked the white colored one.

"What? This?" asked Matt while motioning to his wound. "Fell on a sharp rock, that's all."

The white colored one jabbed Matt with his gun on Matt's leg. Matt groaned loudly and grabbed his wound.

I had to duck down below Matt's shoulder and cling onto his clothes so the two RAM wouldn't see me and so I wouldn't fall. I could hear a small chuckle from the white skinned.

"That's a deep muscle tare. If it was just a rock, it would've spread out and be more bruised like. What you have is a small hole that might have gone through the muscle. And sense your muscles are connected, therefor, all the muscles that cling to that one are also damaged," said the white colored one.

"Speak English, Jorge," came the voice of the black colored one.

"In other words, it would be most likely that he was shot, not stabbed by a rock."

Wow, these guys where smart.

"Why were you shot, why are you here, and why did you lie?" said the black one.

Matt was silent. Obviously, he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Answer me!" said the black one again. There was a thud sound coming from the other side of Matt. One of them must have poked him with their gun.

He stayed silent. There was a WACK as one of them slammed the end of their gun to Matt's head. I had to cling for my life as Matt staggered back and tried to regain his balance. This couldn't have been good for his wound healing.

"I'm going to give you one last chance. Answer my question or I'll shoot you. Got it?"

Matt whipped off some of his blood on his mouth.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. And if you did or didn't, than you would kill me either way," said Matt.

I heard a groan of anger and the sound of a gun be readied. They were going to shoot him! Again! And this time he will die just like his mother did, quickly and with one shot.

"We warned you," said the black one and fired.

I quickly jumped off of Matt's back and ran to his front with my lighting fast speed. I then got my tail charged with glowing, white energy, jumped into the air, and swung it down onto the life threatening shot.

PING! The small metal fell down towards the ground. I landed back on my yellow feet and glared at the two RAM. They stood there, stunned.

I smiled. The element of surprise was at my side.

"W-w-what the?!" said the black one.

"Is th-that a. . .?" said the other.

They stood there, motionless. Should I attack them? Should I let them run away in fear?

They have seen me. I can't let anyone (besides Matt) see me and get away to tell others. I would have to dispose of them.

No. I refuse to kill anyone. After seeing that human mother die, I can't let myself see me do it. But I have to do something quick before they get some sense in them and shoot me.

"I don't care if it's God himself! Kill it!" shouted the black one. Well, that came out of nowhere.

The black one held up his gun and pointed it at me. I ran to my left before he had the chance to reconsider. He looked around for me, apparently his eyes couldn't catch up to my speed.

I ran towards him and swung my tail down on the middle of his leg.

"Ah! The little son of a. . ." he said and swung down the end of his gun at me. I dogged the attack easily.

Man, these humans where slow! When the black one swung down his gun, I had enough time to doge and grab the gun before he recoiled. I released my electric energy and pushed it through the gun and into the human, not with care as I did with Matt, but with force and power.

The electricity ran up to the black one's body, turning him whitish. He wasn't even able to shout from the gruesome pain.

And with that, he fell to the ground. Motionless.

"Sweat mother. . ." said the white one when he saw his partner fall.

There was a BANG and I could feel the air rip right next to my shoulder. The white one tried to shoot me!

I looked away from the motionless body and stared at the other RAM. He only took one look at my face and threw down his gun and ran for his life.

"Ah! Mercy, mercy! Oh, please have mercy!" he shouted as he ran. Coward.

I could've let him get away, but he still saw me. I charged my electric energy up, and released it into the air. From there, the thunder darted across the sky and slammed down onto the runaway RAM. He also fell down to the ground unmoving.

There was a long silence. Matt stood there, apparently stunned at what he had just seen.

"Wow. How did you do that?" he asked with astonishment.

Matt staggered over to the black colored RAM's body, kneeled down, and placed his finger on the RAM's neck.

"He's alive. . .barley. I don't think the other got as much damage, so he should be alive too," said Matt.

He turned his head towards me.

"Man, I thought that you killed him," he said.

Kill him? That's the exact opposite of what I wanted to do. I just wanted to protect Matt and possibly knock out the two RAM. The amount of electric energy I gave off couldn't even KO a Squirtle.

I had no idea that these humans where so delicate. I suppose that could explain why Matt fainted when I did a very small shock into his wound.

Matt slowly stood back up and grabbed the gun that the white RAM dropped when he ran.

"This could come in handy. Along with that," he said while pointing to the now deserted car.

He walked over to the car and sat on the seat. He turned his head towards me and motioned me to sit with him. I walked over to the car and jumped up onto the seat.

"Thanks again, Pikachu. Thanks for saving me life again," said Matt. He smiled. "This means that I owe you double now."

I tried to return the smile, but instead looked back at the two RAM bodies. Matt saw me stare and started petting my head.

"Don't worry about them. They're just knocked out, that's all. You might have given them some disabilities, but that's okay. After all, they are a part of the RAM," he said.

I looked at him again and smiled. He was right, they are RAM and deserve what I've given them.

And with that, Matt turned the car on and the human-made contraption rolled us away.

* * *

Now, the sun was returning to the Earth. It's almost been a full day. Wow, time sure does go by fast!

This "car" that we were ridding in is amazing! The speed this thing could go! Without stopping to rest! And it can go wherever we want!

I held my head out of the car to feel the wind. Ah, nothing beats this feeling. The wind in your face, the thrill of speed, and the knowledge of being able to go home.

Of course, I wasn't the one controlling this "car". Matt was. I guess only humans can control human stuff. Or, at least, know how to use them.

"That's another house right there, or the remains of it," said Matt while pointing at a broken, clay and metal structure.

While we have been "driving", Matt has been explaining some things to me. How this car moves, what the black rocks on the ground are, and other things that we see while ridding in the car.

"That, right there, is an old school. Thank God that it blew up!" said Matt and laughed. I laughed with him, even though I had no idea what we were laughing at. Just the sound of his laughter made me laugh myself.

He also told me that he had been alive for sixteen "years". I'm not sure what a year is, but it would be difficult to ask.

He also told me about himself and his life before this. I listened with interest.

He just kept talking on and on. Talking about his family, his friends, where he used to live, how he used to live, and so on.

He just kept talking about everything it seemed. Maybe it has been awhile sense he had the chance to talk about his life with someone.

I stood there and listened. I loved listening to his stories that he told me. It kind of reminded me of home, when the Elders and my mother would tell me stories about the humans and their adventures.

Now, I'm in my own story. My own fairy tail. My own adventure. Boy, I liked the sound of that!

Now the sun was half way into the Earth, sinking every moment. The day was almost over. We will have to stop and rest if we are to keep going.

Great minds think alike, apparently, for Matt soon slowed the car to a stop behind another tall, broken, metal structure. That way, we and the car will be hidden from all RAM eyes.

"So, Pikachu. Have I been driving the right way or are we totally off course?" asked Matt.

I smiled and nodded. I was wondering how the human knew which way I was going. It seems that he was just simply guessing.

"Good. So when morning comes, do I go the same direction?" he asked me again. I nodded.

If we keeping going this way, it'll lead us strait into the beach, which is where my boat is. And at the rate we are going, it might only take us another day to get there, thanks to the car. It seems that everything's looking up.

Matt staggered over to the broken down house and sat down, leaning his back to the rusted wall. He tilted his head towards the sunset and watched the sun slowly fall back into the Earth.

"I'm not sure where we're going or why we're going there, but I know it's for a good reason. You know which way we're going, don't you? So, might as well go that way," said Matt, just thinking out loud.

I walked over to where he sat and sat down next to him. Then, I watched the sunset along with him, pondering his words. _He really does trust me. . .and only after one day._

Matt turned his head towards me and started petting my head again.

"I sure hope that, wherever we go, it'll be just like this," said Matt.

Just like this? This land filled with rubble and metal for ground? This place that was made from the blood of both of our ancestors?

Matt saw my confused face and placed a hand near his ear.

"Hear that?" he asked.

I listened. I strained my ears to hear the slightest noise possible, but could not hear any. I shook my head.

"Exactly," said Matt with a smile. What did he mean by that?

"This one place right here, is filled with peace and quiet. . .and that beautiful picture." He pointed at the sunset. "I hope that wherever it is that we go, it'll be as peaceful as this, and that there will always be a spot to watch the sun set," Matt explained.

He chuckled.

"Peace. An odd word, don't you think? Over here, we can't use such a word. Every day, there is bloodshed and violence thanks to the RAM."

I thought about his words.

Peace. In a way, I suppose it is an odd word. A word that either is used for wishfulness or temporary use.

Peace.

Matt looked back at the sunset. It was almost gone, and the stars where already starting to shine. He looked up to the stars.

A tear left its trail down his cheek.

"I wonder. . .I wonder if there is peace up there," he said.

He turned his head back towards me.

"Do you believe in a life after death?" he asked.

A life. . .after death? Isn't death the exact opposite of life? How could someone die and still be alive?

On the other hand, I have heard of some of the other Pokemon believe in such things. They told me of an afterlife, a time when your soul leaves your body to live in a great beyond. They spoke of death as a pathway. A pathway to the afterlife.

But, what about the ghost tribe? The ones with the forms of spirits and the abilities of the psychic? Are they one of the dead? I have never had a chance or the willingness to ask such a question.

_Oh, that should be a cheerful conversation. "Hello! Are you dead? Just wondering."_

That's why I never asked.

So, could there be a life after death? I never really thought about it until now.

I stared at Matt and slowly nodded my head. He turned back towards the stars.

"I wonder if my mom is finally resting in peace now. Up there," he said.

He still thinks about her. I wouldn't blame him, I would be doing the same if my mother died.

Speaking of which, I do hope that she is still okay. How long has it been sense I've been home? Four days? Five? Does she still have time to live?

I shook off the thought. _Just look to the bright side, everything will be better when we get home, _I thought.

I heard a faint noise. It was Matt, snoring. The human must have been so tired that he fell asleep.

I crawled closer to him and laid on his warm lap, curling up into my sleeping position. Oh, his body was warm enough to sleep on!

And with that, I fell asleep.

**I hope you liked it! I do need some ideas and advice for the next chapter, so I'm open to anything. Thanks again! Please R&R! (and if you find any more spelling mistakes, please tell me. I suck at spelling...really bad.)**

**Also, I got accepted to the Institute of Children's Literature! That means that some day, I'm going to publish a book! Better get my autograph soon before I write a book better than Harry Potter! ;)** lol


	3. Day Three

War of Hope Day 3

**Well, ain't this just peachy? I didn't have a chance to go over this again and be able to fix some stuff because I spraned my wrist. I'm having trouble just typing this.**

**Well, enought about me and my hurt wrist, on with the story!**

I stood with my tribe, back at my home islands. My mother was stood in front of me, smiling. The rest of the tribe stood beside her and stared at me.

"Mom?" I said, in disbelief.

Just a few moments ago, I was in the human territory with a human named Matt. How did I just appear here?

Another question is, how is mother standing in front of me? She is still supposed to be in the MCIP. Now, she looks as healthy as a baby Pichu.

And why is the rest of my tribe over here? They stood next to my mother, almost as if they were protecting her. But from what?

My tribe . . . my people . . . stared at me with looks of hatred, anger, coward, and protective. Why do my people look at me so? I come home from a long journey and I come to this?

I felt a gaze on my back. I turned around to find who it was . . . to see Matt. He stood behind me, watching and staring at my people. Was it him that they feared?

Once again, I turned back to my people and looked at their faces. Their stairs where at me, not Matt. Did they blame me for Matt? Where they scared of Matt and protected my mother from him and me?

"Leave."

I looked for the source of the voice. It was my best friend, the Eevee who didn't believe in humans. Why did he tell me to leave? Why did my best friend tell me out of all people to leave? What was going on here?

Suddenly, everyone took a step closer to me. Their bodies filled with electricity as they walked closer to me and Matt. Did they wish to hurt me? Or the human?

Or both?

Then, all of the electric Pokemon, my tribe, formed one giant ball of electric energy and shot it at me. Such power I have never come against nor seen.

I covered my body with my arms, trying to protect myself in any way possible, even though there was none. The electricity slammed into me and shot me into a pit.

I fell into the pit. It was an endless pit as I fell.

A pit to hell? Might as well be.

I watched my tribe . . . my home fly away from me as I fell into the endless pit.

And fell to my death.

* * *

Sudden darkness. Am I dead?

I tried to look around, but there was nothing but darkness. I could feel my eyes move, I could feel the strain of trying to see through the darkness, but nothing worked.

"What is it?"

I could hear voices. But, I still couldn't see anything. Where my eye lids closed? Is this just a dream?

"Try poking it."

I felt a hard jab at my stomach. It felt cold and hard. Metal maybe? Knowing these humans, anything they have is pretty much metal.

"Maybe it's dead."

Another jab at my stomach. But this time I grabbed whatever was jabbing me and opened my eyes.

There, I could see the red sun in the sky and the black, rocky ground. In front of me where three humans, each wearing a green uniform. On the arm of their uniform were the letters RAM.

What I was now holding was a gun pointing at my chest, being held by fairly white RAM.

"It's awake!" shouted one of them.

I quickly shot out a burst of electricity through the gun and into the human that was holding it. He flinched, then fell to the ground.

That scared them. The other two RAM grabbed their own guns, shouting orders at each other and trying to back away from me.

"Shoot it! Shoot it! Shoot it now!" shouted a black haired RAM, while trying to pull out a smaller gun out of his pocket. The other did the same.

I quickly got up and ran over to the nearest RAM. He finally pulled out his small gun and started shooting at me, but with terrible accuracy. I was able to doge the ones that got too close to me and come face to face with the RAM. From there, I charged my tail, jumped towards the gun, and slammed down my glowing tail at the horrible machine.

See? Even my vocabulary is increasing with human words!

"Jesus!" swore the RAM.

The gun sliced in half and cut the RAM's hand a little. He stopped and grabbed his hand, trying to stop the pain. Oh, that's just the beginning! I ran at him with full speed and landed my head into his stomach, knocking the air out of him. He fell down with a "oof!"

As that RAM fell to the ground and tried to find a way to breathe again, the black haired RAM pulled out, not his gun, but a small black cube of some sort.

"This is officer 0024. We have found the unknown target. I repeat, we have found the unknown target." He spoke into the black cube as if e was talking to someone right next to him.

I could hear noise come out of the cube, but couldn't make out any words. Was he telling other RAM about me? If so, I can let him tell them where I am.

"Yes, it's right here! . . . It took out two of our officers and is about to attack me!" said the RAM.

Boy, he had no idea how right he was. I ran up to him, jumped once again into the air to face him, and sliced the communication cube out of his hands. He was caught off guard and stood still as I laid both of my paws on his face, hanging on.

"I'm not an 'it'," I said, even though he probably didn't understand me.

I released a large amount of my electricity into the RAM's face and into the rest of his body. His body turned from it's tanned white skin into salt white skin. His face turned slightly purple as my electricity poured into his body.

I stopped my electricity and let go of the human. My feet meat the ground as his body meat the hard rocks.

I have to ament, I flinched slightly when the human hit the hard ground with a THUD.

Well, bad for him, good for me.

CLICK.

I turned around. There was another RAM human with another gun in his right hand and another black cube in his left. The clicking noise must have been him getting the gun ready to shoot.

He spoke into the black cube while pointing the gun at me.

"Sector Z, area 9. Yellow creature with red spots on cheek. Permission to kill."

What should I do? If I move, he'll kill me for sure. If I don't move, he might still kill me. Not even my speed could avoid their guns this close to my head.

BANG! The RAM staggered backwards and clutched his side. Blood slowly oozed out of his palms.

When the RAM saw the blood, his eyes turned white and his body went loose. Then, he fell to the ground. How did that happen?

I turned around to see Matt, holding the gun. The end of it smoking from being used. Did he just save me? Was he the one that shot the RAM?

"Now, I owe you only one," he said. I'll take that as a "yes".

I smiled and Matt put the gun down. He looked over to the RAM that had his wind knocked out. He was still conscious.

Matt slowly got up and walked over to the only conscious RAM. The RAM tried to crawl away from him, but I stepped in front of the RAM's face to tell him that he's not going anywhere.

"W-what do you want from me?" said the RAM.

Matt finally got to the RAM and grabbed him by his collar. (I learned that word from Matt too!) I watched as Matt pulled the RAM close to his face in a threatening manner.

"Why the hell are you here?" asked Matt to the RAM, with anger in his tone.

The RAM looked at the anger and hatred in Matt's eyes. He was scared.

"W-we were sent here," wheezed the RAM, still trying to breathe from my attack.

"By who? And why?" demanded Matt.

"We're . . . not supposed to tell," wheezed out the RAM again.

Matt turned his face from the RAM to me.

"You see him?" asked Matt to the RAM.

The RAM turned his face to look at me. Fear filled his eyes.

"Did you see what he and I did to your friends over there? Well, we can do much worse," said Matt, threatening the RAM.

I decided to add on to this threatening mood by allowing my electricity flow through my body. I allowed it to spark out and show how destructive I can get, just to scare him some more.

The RAM's face turned from fearful to piss-in-my-pants. I'm sure he just might have pissed in his clothes if I took one step closer to him.

"I-I'm sorry! I swear, I'll tell you anything! Just please don't hurt me!" pleaded the RAM.

Matt pulled the RAM's face back to face his.

"Then tell us who sent you and why they sent you," repeated Matt.

"Our boss sent us here. We-"

"Who's your boss?" demanded Matt.

The RAM tried to cover his face with his hands to avoid Matt's piercing gaze.

"I don't know his name. We just call him Boss. Even the people who do know his name wont tell anybody," said the RAM, cowarding behind his hands.

Matt accepted his answer. I could see in the RAM's face that he told the truth.

"So why did this boss of yours send you here? Where you looking for us?" asked Matt, almost spitting on the RAM's hands. Wow, Matt can sure change his character whenever he wanted to. It was really scaring all the information out of this RAM.

"Some of our men where found unconscious in this area, so we were ordered to search this area. When our unconscious men finally woke up, they told us to look for a young male and a small yellow creature," explained the RAM.

"Are there any others that are looking for us?" asked Matt.

"Yes."

"How many?"

"I don't know."

Matt pulled the RAM's collar closer to his face and pierced his eyes into the RAM's.

"How many?"

"About two hundred men, maybe three hundred."

Three hundred?! Three hundred blood sucking RAM humans that are searching for us?

Maybe I should have hidden the bodies, that way three hundred RAM wouldn't be looking for us. And now, all of these RAM have seen me. The only thing for me to do is to kill them so they wont tell anyone about where I am or even if I am.

No, I can't kill. It would effect me more than the person who's life I've taken. I just couldn't live with such a burden.

Besides, those RAM that I just defeated probably already told their "boss" about me and Matt. That one RAM spoke into that black cube as if there was another person in it.

"_Sector Z, area 9."_

Was he telling others about where I am? All though I have never heard of this "sector Z" or this "area 9", but from what Matt and the RAM are talking about, they are probably things that tell humans where other humans are.

Well, all this information is very convenient. Matt sure is playing the character and getting more and more info out of this human.

"Now tell me how- . . . Uh!" Matt was starting to ask another question, but then he stopped and grabbed his side where he was shot. That darn thing is acting up again!

The RAM saw Matt's weakness and took advantage of it. He swung his arm across Matt's face and sent him spinning to the ground. The RAM quickly got to his feet (had more than enough time to learn to breathe again) and started running for his life.

I quickly stopped his running by getting in front of him, blocking his escape. I slammed my head onto the middle of his leg as hard as my head would let me.

The RAM gave a grunt and crouched over his leg, bringing his head down to my level. I slashed my claws at his head, digging into his skull.

He tried to swat my claws away, but that just led me to slashing his own hands. He, then, tried to grab me, but because of my speed and his slowness, I easily dogged and grabbed his right hand.

From there, I released another blast of my electricity into the RAM's body and knocked him out. K.O.

He fell to the ground just as the others did. I turned away from the motionless body and faced Matt. He was sitting on the ground, breathing hard. He was still grasping his wound on his side.

I ran over to him to see if he was okay. He could tell that I was worried, so he tried to reassure me that he was fine. I was still unconvinced.

I need to check the wound again. If it's hurting him this much, then something must be wrong. I pushed his chest down to tell him to lay down. He did, and I took off the bandage.

The wound has indeed gotten worse. If you could imagine a purple swamp with green algae growing everywhere, you have a pretty good picture of Matt's wound. Some spots had white puss oozing out, the skin around it was even turning black.

I'm sure all that moving from yesterday didn't help it at all, and probably this just recent fight didn't help either. If Matt's going to live, I'll have to clean the wound again.

"It's bad, right?"

Matt was looking at the sky while on his back. He could probably see how bad this was without seeing it. I nodded my head.

He didn't see me nod, but he braced himself. He curled his hands around near by rocks and tightened his eyes, trying to fine any kind of way to avoid the pain. He knew what I had to do again.

I sighed and placed both of my paws on the purple, oozing wound.

Matt winced at the pain of me simply touching it. I could see him grinding his teeth together.

"Just go and get it over with," he said to me. I knew the feeling.

I pushed harder onto the wound and released a small amount of my electricity. The yellow static seemed to dance out of my body and skip into Matt's. He winced and grunted through clenched teeth, trying to hold in the pain. The yellow static danced around the purple hole and dived in.

Matt screamed. His pain now erupting through his mouth. I could even swore that I saw a vain appear on his neck.

The purple wound slowly turned back to a dark red as the static dancers danced inside of it. The skin turned more blackish, though, but I suppose that could heal after while.

I stopped the flow of the yellow dancers coming out of my body. That should be enough. Matt was still conscious and awake, but he was breathing very hard. What a player.

He took a few more deep, heavy breaths and attempted to tare off another piece of his clothing for a new bandage. However, he just gave himself more pain by trying, so I tore it off for him.

I wrapped the cloth around him and tied it. Thanks to so much experience at the MCIP, I knew how to tie good knots.

When the knot was done, Matt subdued his grinding and wincing. His pain finally giving him a break. He slowly sat up and thanked me.

Even through all that agony, and he still thanks me? Do all humans do this after such pain?

Well, we don't have too much time to waist thinking about this. We need to keep moving. Hopefully, the RAM didn't mess with our car. I checked where we hid it.

Still intact. Good. With this thing, we should make it to the shore today.

If we're lucky. . .

* * *

The red sun drifted above our heads. It's light seemed to pierce through the gray clouds, yet lay lazily on the black ground.

As I sat in the moving car, I thought about my dream I had. What did it mean? Was it a vision? Was it a sign?

My dream showed my tribe gang up on me with Matt at my back. Maybe, this dream was showing me my worries? I have been thinking about what everyone would say and react when I bring Matt. I mean, they haven't seen a human for over fifty years!

But, what if it was a vision. My dreams telling me what might happen if I bring this human to such forsaken lands. What my people . . . my own friends and relatives would do to me.

Would they?

Could they?

What if they didn't, but where forced to? Our leader is a great leader and all, but he can get very demanding at times. If he saw a human after wanting nothing to do with them, something is willing to happen.

"No. No, not here," said Matt, ripping me from my thoughts.

I looked through the front of the car. There in front of us was a long line of RAM. RAM cars, RAM humans with guns, and even some other mechanisms that I've never seen before.

The RAM was pinning us down.

"This doesn't make sense," said Matt. "Why is the RAM trying so hard to kill us? They never go this far if one of their men got hurt . . . Unless."

He looked down at me.

Then I knew. The RAM weren't trying to kill us, but to catch me. I'm the only Pokemon anyone has seen for years. They want to catch me and probably do worst stuff to me than our leader. I shuddered at the thought.

Matt saw me shudder and laid a hand of comfort on my head.

"Don't worry. For as long as I live, no one will catch you unless you say so."

He shouldn't make promises that he can't keep.

Our car was still heading strait for the RAM. I could see that they were getting their guns ready and getting their machines of doom prepared.

Matt was still making the car head strait for them, why? Wasn't he worried that they might shoot at us? Especially when we are going this direction that they could easily stomp us?

Suddenly, the car lunged forward. Matt was making go even faster? His eyes where locked strait on the line of RAM. I could see another vain pulse on the side of Matt's neck.

"When I tell you to jump, jump," said Matt.

Jump?

"Ready?"

I wanted to say no, but he wasn't going to stop. The car picked up even more speed. The RAM line was coming closer faster and I could see that they were getting ready for some kind of attack.

PING! PING! TING!

They were shooting at us already! Sparks were flashing everywhere around the car. One stray bullet whizzed by my ear, giving my ear a ripping sound, almost as if they were trying to tare the air itself off of the world.

I ducked my head. That one got too close to me.

What if one of their bullets hit the wheels on the car? Will the car swerve out of control, killing us in the process? No, the RAM want me. Alive.

That word almost seemed new to me. Alive. Could such a word exist at this time?

PONG! PING! TONG!

Matt still had his eyes locked outside of the car. Why doesn't he stop?

The car continued to move faster and accelerate more and more. Why does he want to go faster? Speed wont help us if we're going only strait and moving towards the danger.

Unless. . .

"Set?"

More bullets slammed onto the car. I could heard some distant commands of the RAM getting ready for Matt's ram.

Well, that's ironic. Matt is trying to ram the RAM. Ram, RAM. Get it?

I lifted my head back up to look outside. The RAM were still shooting at us, but some of them were starting to run, fleeing for their lives.

I get it! Matt was going to ram the RAM and because of that, it could scare some of them away, which will help when the car does ram into them. That way, I'll have to fight less people and we'll have a better chance of escaping.

The RAM line was only a few moments ahead of us.

More running away. More shooting for their lives.

I could make out more cars lined up, trying to stop us. Some of the RAM got into some of the cars and used them to get out of the way.

PING! TONG!

BANG! A bunch of sparks flooded the front of the car and sent smoke to cover our vision.

"Jump!"

I climbed up to the window (a word Matt taught me) and jumped out. The black ground met my face with an THUD for a hello. I did not see it, but I could hear the car swivel and crash into the RAM's defenses.

People screaming and shouting orders at each other. I got back to my feet. Man, that hurt.

DISSSHH! The ground beside me exploded and shot up black tar. Soon, more and more bullets were fired at me, forcing me to run.

Wait, where did Matt go? Did he jump out in time? I looked at the spot were our car crashed. There was a great fire burning on and around the car. Some of the other RAM were caught in the blase and were running in circles while having fire burning them to the bone.

Looks like the plan worked . . . in a way. But I still couldn't find Matt.

Some of the surviving RAM pointed at me and others pointed at another spot. I looked towards that other spot and saw Matt, laying on the ground. He wasn't moving.

I ran over to him, while dogging more and more bullets of death coming by. When I made it to him, he turned over and faced me. Good, he was still alive.

He grasped his side, where his wound was. I'm sure all that jumping didn't help it at all. He staggered up and attempted to stand.

"Get it! But keep it alive! Kill the boy if you have to!" shouted one of the RAM over the roaring of the flames.

I charged up my tail and got into my pouncing stance. We have made it this far and no stupid RAM if going to stop us.

The bullets came, this time from everyone near by and all at once. Thanks to me being a Pikachu and training myself back home, I was able to dash, jump, counter block, and deflect the bullets away with my glowing tail. But at such speed was I going that I surprised myself that I still had control.

I turned into a yellow blur as the RAM tried to shoot Matt, but got deflected by my tail.

TING, TONG, TING, TING!

Left, up, down, right, up again, down again, down left, up right, right down, left up! I was blocking all of them! Then, something caught my eye.

One of the RAM stopped firing and was taking off a piece of his gun. What?

That small distraction led to me getting caught off guard. One of the bullets grabbed my arm and dug into it. I screamed in pain of the thing.

I stopped my running and deflecting and laid a paw on my arm that was shot. I thought they wanted me alive.

_You still are alive, just hurt._ Said my conscious.

"Pikachu!" shouted Matt over the roar of the fire and the hail of stray bullets.

GASH! Matt's head suddenly twisted sideways and sent his whole body to the ground. One of the RAM shot him in the head!

No. Please not him.

Not after we have made it this far.

There were just too many of them. To my right, more RAM were making their way here and the same with my left.

Wait . . . the car! The car burst into a heap of flames when it crashed. This line is made out of people and cars! Maybe that just could even the odds.

I released one more burst of electric power onto the nearest car to me. I turned around and ran to Matt's side, not even caring to watch the car explode. Matt was laying on the ground, still as a rock.

No. Please, no.

But, there was no blood. As soon as I noticed this, I checked my arm where I was shot. There was no blood, but instead a bruise. The purple dot swirling around my yellow fur sent relief through me. They didn't want to kill me, they just need me weak enough to capture, and because of that, they're shooting with weaker bullets. Matt just might still be alive!

I laid my paw on his chest, were his heart is. Behind me, I could hear the shouts and screams of the RAM being burned to the ground. Matt's heart was beating, but it was beating very slowly.

PUMP . . . PUMP . . . PUMP . . . PUMP.

Either way, he was still alive, just knocked out. The bullet must have hit him in some kind of pressure point.

BOOM!

Another car exploded. The RAM were idiots to line their cars up together. They were almost begging to be blown up. More screams and more shouting. The fire was keeping them plenty busy.

Even though the RAM were distracted, we still need to get out of here. That fire will eventually burn out and they still have some humans willing to fight. But Matt is still unconscious. How am I suppose to get him and I out of here? Drag him?

The idea didn't seem too bad. I pick up Matt's heavy body by his shoulders and pulled him over the black ground. Man, was this guy heavy! How much does he weigh? Sheesh. . .

After about five steps of dragging, I heard something rip the air behind me. I quickly let go of Matt's unmoving body and turned around, getting into my traditional pouncing stance. If anyone was going to shoot something else at me, I'll be ready.

But what caught me by surprise was that it wasn't another bullet, but a large web of some kind. It was gray and had lines through it like a web.

The large web shot strait at me. I couldn't doge, for Matt was right behind me and that would mean that Matt would be the one getting hurt, so I tried to counter attack it. I used my electricity again, but it wasn't effected!

The web grabbed me and tangled around me, trapping me. Is that what this was? Some sort of trap to catch me with? I squirmed and wiggled, but I could not get out of the strange web like trap. I tried shocking the web, but only ended up shocking myself.

"We got it! We got it!" shouted the RAM the must have shot this web at me.

The other RAM survivors started to make their way over to me, others were checking their wounded or dead men.

I tried again to break free, to try to get away from the clutches of my enemy, but I was tired and worn out. I couldn't even charge my tail for I did not have enough energy.

Strong, human hands picked up the web with me in it. I looked behind me to see a white haired RAM, who was smiling just like the rest of them. The other RAM came over to see their beloved trophy . . . me.

"Well, looky what we caught here!"

"I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it."

"Well, fellas. I'm still shocked about how much damage this thing can do. Lets hurry up and bring it to base before the boss gets pissed."

Everyone nodded. But one saw Matt on the ground.

"What about this feller?"

"Eh, just leave him there. It's not our job."

The one that was holding me held me up to his face so that I could see every drop of sweat on his face.

"You're comin' with us, little feller."

I didn't respond. Instead, I looked at the sun again, for the last time. It was at its peak for the sun set. Maybe the RAM will at least let me watch the sun set for one last time.

GRINE!

Something just exploded in front of me and made a big hole in the ground. This startled the human that was holding me, so he dropped me onto the ground. After being so tried and having the ground slammed onto your head, I was knocked out.

The last thing I can remember seeing is that other humans were coming out of the hole and shooting the RAM. Then, just darkness of my unconscious mind.

**I would like to thank Wings of the Wolf for giving me this idea. THANKS!**


	4. Day Four

War of Hope Day 4

"Why is that thing here?!"

Someone's voice. I couldn't tell who is was from for my eyes were closed. It's one of those times when you're awake, but your eyes are closed and you're asleep at the same time.

"That 'thing' helped us in that battle, Private!"

Man, my head hurts right now. I placed my paw on my forehead and tried to rub out the pain. I could feel many knots and bruises right were I hit the ground. Stupid RAM guy, letting go of me like that.

"Helped us? It was asleep while we were doing all of the fighting!" I could hear this one getting angry. But angry at what?

"Did you not see the battle field before we reached the surface? There were already blown up cars and half-dead RAM everywhere. Do you think that the boy did all of that?"

"I don't care if the Shade himself killed all of them by himself, I just don't want that thing in here!"

I opened my eyes. I was in some small, brown room of some sort. I was sitting on a fluffy and very comfortable seat of some sort, laying me back on the wall behind me. I saw the two humans who were talking just before. One was a very tall human, brown hair, and brawn shoulders while the other was slightly shorter, red haired, and very muscular (or at least compared to Matt).

"Well he is staying here as long as he wants, whether you like it or not!" said the brown haired one.

"Now you're calling it a 'he'? That thing is not a human!" shouted the red haired one while pointing a finger at me.

Why does everyone want to call me a "thing" or an "it"? Us Pokemon have feelings too!

When the red haired pointed at me, the brown haired looked at me and noticed that I was awake. The red haired followed his gaze and saw me too.

"We'll continue this talk later," said the brown haired.

The red haired turned back to the brown haired.

"Why? Are you worried that this thing will get offended? How do you even know if it can understand us?" demanded the red head.

"I said we will continue this later," repeated the brown head.

"Hey! I'm not done tal-"

"I said we will talk later! Now please leave!" The brown headed one started to raise his voice.

At hearing the other human raise his voice, the red head turned his head. He was going to say one more thing but the brown headed said, "That's an order, Private."

After that, the "Private" turned around and started walking away. I noticed that he walked towards a small metal wall, but when he was just about to run into the wall, it opened up and disappeared behind the brown walls. He took a step out of the room I was in and the metal door came back into view and slid close.

After being shocked at such technology, I turned my gaze to the brown haired human. He was rubbing his fingers on both of his eyes, as if to rub out all his worries. When he stopped, he looked at me and pulled out a container of some kind out of his clothes.

He pulled something off the top of the container and walked up to me with it.

What was it? A poison of some kind? Some other kind of human made killer contraption?

I tried to back away from the approaching human, but then I remembered that there was a wall behind me.

"No, no. Don't worry, I'm just here to help," said the human. He extended the container towards me, telling me to take it.

Should I? Can I trust him? He is a human after all.

But so is Matt.

I hesitated, then took the container. I took a sniff of whatever was inside of it to make sure. It had no smell.

"Go ahead, drink it. It will make you feel better," said the human, watching my movements.

I hesitated again, then placed the container to my lips. Soon, the overwhelming sensation of cold water touched my lips and I found myself pushing the container straight up, pouring all the water down into my throat. I guess I chugged it a little too much, for I started choking on the water and had to put the container back down.

"Woe! You must have been thirsty, little guy. But, you got to drink it with little sips."

So many things have happened that I guess I forgot how thirsty I was. I picked up the container again and (this time) took smaller chugs and shorter gulps.

Ah. Water never felt so good on my dry throat.

"Cha," I said. It doesn't mean anything, I just say that to show relief.

When all the water was gone, the brown haired human took the container and put it back in his . . . um . . . pocket! That's the word I was looking for.

"Well, aren't you a rare sight? What do you call yourself?" asked the brown haired after he put up the container.

"Pikachu."

"Tikachu?"

"Pikachu! Pi-ka-chu!"

Man, sometimes these humans cannot pronounce the most simplest things!

"A . . . Pikachu? Wow. Are you a . . . Pokemon, by chance?"

I nodded my head. No duh, I'm just a yellow flower that so happens to have arms and can shock things whenever I want to.

"Wow!" The brown haired human placed one of his hands on is head and made this face of puzzlement and wonder. "I have never ever seen a Pokemon. I used to think that they were just fairy-tails, but here you are!"

He started dazing off in his La-La land, then his face filled with realization.

"Wait, you understand me?"

I nodded. Nah, I just nod for show.

Then, the metal wall slid open again and revealed another human behind it. Now I'm starting to become surprised at how many humans I'm seeing.

"Sir, I have great news concerning the . . . HOLY SHI-! What is that?!" shouted the human after noticing me.

The brown haired human walked over to this new human and patted him on the back.

"This is Kikachu! He is a Pokemon!"

"Pikachu!" I corrected.

"Sorry."

"It can talk?" asked the new human.

Okay, I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick and tired of being called an "it". I got up to my feet and got my electricity ready to attack. I allowed my checks to spark, just to scare the human.

"Ah! I think it's trying to kill me!" shouted the human while trying to make a run for it.

The brown haired one just grabbed the new human's clothes on his back to keep him from running away.

"I just think you got him angered because he doesn't like to be called that."

"Called what?" asked the trying-to-run-away-human.

"'It'."

"Okay! I promise never to call it- I mean him- and 'it' ever again! Just please don't hurt me!" pleaded the human.

The brown haired human just shook his head. "And you call yourself 4th in command." Then, he let go of the human.

That human might have still ran if the brown haired one didn't tell him otherwise.

"Now, what is it that you where going to tell me?"

I let my electricity slowly flow away until not even a spark came out. This could be interesting.

The other human cleared his throat, made a quick glance at me, then told the brown haired one what he was going to say.

"As if was saying, we have great news concerning our last battle. We where able to defeat the RAM forces without one casualty! We have never been able to achieve that, sir."

"Not one? How is that possible? Where the RAM not shooting at all? I saw some men get shot right in front of me."

"Well, sir, it seems that the RAM that we attacked didn't use metal bullets at all, but rubber bullets," said the now-not-so-scared-human.

"But why would the RAM be so stupid to do that?" asked the brown haired.

"Well, sir, we were able to capture some of the RAM soldiers and asked them that same question, but none of them have talked so far."

The brown haired started rubbing his chin with one of his hands, probably thinking of the reason.

He stopped rubbing his chin and looked straight at me. Was he thinking of what I think he's thinking?

"Sir? You're not suggesting that the RAM were looking for it- . . .him, are you?"

"It's the only thing that makes since right now. You know how power thirsty the RAM are! What if they found this little guy and decided to capture him? That would make since of the rubber bullets!"

"But sir, this was a full scale blockade. Surely the RAM wouldn't risk so many men just to capture . . . well, anything."

The brown haired one walked closer to me and squat down to my level.

"Maybe he proved himself worthy to be such a threat and such a gain. Did you, little guy?"

I just stared right into his eyes. After considering what they were saying, why would the RAM risk so much just for me? Could it be because I'm the only Pokemon out here? Or something more?

Then, my stomach started to growl again, this time louder than before and bringing more hunger pain. I suppose I forgot about my thirst and my hunger.

That made the human chuckle.

"Looks like somebody's hungry! Joe!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Get some food ready in the Main."

"But, what does he eat, sir?"

"I don't know, just set out a buffet. It's lunch time anyhow."

"But what should I tell everyone else?"

"About what?"

The human looked at me and the brown haired understood.

"Just tell everyone that we have a guest, and to not call him a 'thing'."

The human hesitated, then nodded and walked out of the room. The brown haired human stood back up and gestured his hand to do also.

"You ready to eat?" he asked me.

My stomach growled again.

"I'll take that as a yes." He laughed.

This human wasn't like most humans, but on the other hand, I've only met RAM and Matt. This human refused to call me a thing and treated me as one of his own kind. I respect him for that.

He led me to the metal wall and it opened again by itself and we walked out of the room. Outside of the room was an even bigger room, maybe four . . . no, ten times as big! I looked around with my mouth hung open in amassment.

There where humans everywhere! Little ones, big ones, short ones, tall ones, skinny ones, fat ones, dark ones, and light ones! Some wore stuff over their eyes, some didn't wear any clothing on their chest, some had very long hair, and some didn't have any hair at all.

When I first came to the human territory, I couldn't find any humans for days! And now look at this! There must be hundreds and hundreds of humans here, male and female alike! Wow!

The brown haired human looked down at me and saw my expression.

"What? Haven't seen people before?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"I suppose that makes since. They're really nice people, once you get to know them, but I think it'll take some time before they get to know you."

I didn't quite understand that, but I just let it slide for now. I loved watching these humans walk and run and play.

"Oh, and by the way, my name is Kyki. Just in case you're wondering."

Kyki? That's an odd name, but maybe that's a normal name to humans.

Kyki started walking away from our room and around the humans, but I wanted to see the humans up close. The only human I was able to see and talk to was Matt.

Oh! I just remembered! Matt was hurt during the battle! I walked up to Kyki and tried my best to tell him that I wanted to see Matt.

"Kyki, take me to Matt! Where did you put him? Is he okay?" I asked.

"Woe, woe! Slow down there, little guy. I can't understand a single thing you're saying, but if my hunch is correct, you want to see your friend, right? That's where we're going to right now, but we have to stay out of sight. These people aren't ready for you just yet."

Stay out of sight? Why? Everyone already knows about me . . .right?

* * *

After walking through many tunnels and trying to avoid any human sight, we eventually made it to Matt's room.

Another metal wall slid away as we approached it and I took a step inside. There on the same kind os seat I woke up on was Matt, still asleep. Next to his sleeping body was another human, but this one looked like a female. She had long pink hair and wore white clothes.

"Ms. Neso, how is the boy?" asked Kyki.

The female looked up at his and gave him a warm smile.

"I told you not to call me by my last name. Just call me Jury," she said.

She smiled again, then saw me.

"Kyki! What is that?" she gasped.

"Please don't call him 'that'. This is the boy's friend, Likachu," said Kyki.

"Pikachu," I corrected . . . again.

The female named Jury started pondering on the name.

"Pikachu. Is he electric?" she asked.

I let some of my static out to answer her question. Her face filled with awe.

"Wow! After all these years and I finally get to see a real live Pokemon! Just like my ancestors!" she said.

"Ms. . . .Jury, we're not even sure if you are related to that group of people. All we have to back us up are the stories the parents tell their children," said Kyki.

"I know, but I have this good feeling that I am one of them."

One of who? What where these humans talking about? I thought it was hard for me to communicate with them, now it's hard for me to even understand them.

"Anyway, how is the boy?"

Jury looked away from Kyki and looked down at the Matt's wound.

"It's a very deep wound, probably a point blank shot, but I'm surprised that he's still alive. This wound looks days old and isn't infected at all!" said Jury, amazed.

I guess that deserves a nice pat on the back. I did my job pretty well.

"But another thing that I'm confused about is not in the wound, but around the wound. His skin is dead all around the shot and that seems to be infecting it," she said.

I suppose I shouldn't give myself that pat.

Darn it! I thought that this could happen. Human bodies are much more delicate then Pokemon, which I'm used to treating. But, what was I to do? She said it herself, the wound, itself, is not infected and is not any harm . . . for now.

But by cleaning the wound, I just added something else to worry about! How am I going to fix this? I'm not a part of the Psychic Tribe, Forest Tribe, or the Water Tribe. Us, the Electric Tribe, are known for our speed and power of the thunder clouds, not for healing.

But then, that's mainly what the MCIP was made for. I guess that's still the plan for me and Matt.

Wait, these are humans! Don't they know how to heal their own kind?

"Well, can you do anything to help him?" asked Kyki.

"You know just as well as I do, Kyki. Down here, our technoloy is very limited, along with our medical supples and the nearest hospital is almost a hundred miles away. I'm sorry, but the only thing we can do is treat him until he dies," she said.

WHAT?! Un-until he dies?

"You mean . . .?"

"Yes, Kyki. The dead skin is the part that is infecting the wound and he now has a virus. He might have two or three days left to live."

Not on my watch! Looks like the MCIP is still where we're headed. I'm not going to let Matt die, especially if it's my fault!

I walked over to Matt's body and looked at his face. It was twisted with pain, suffering, and agony. Has he really gone through so much? Was I the meaning of this pain he was now in?

How could this happen? How could helping someone end up in only giving them more suffering?

"Is he a friend of your's?"

I looked over my shoulder and at Jury. She must've been watching me while I was looking at Matt.

I nodded my head.

"So you understand us. Are there more of you?" she asked.

I nodded again. What did this human want from me? An interview?

My stomach growled. Saved by hunger.

"Oh!" said Jury with her hands over her mouth. "He's hungry!"

"Yes. I already told everyone to get some food ready," said Kyki.

"But, don't you think the people will be . . . shocked at seeing him?" asked Jury while mentioning me.

Kyki walked over to me and motioned me to walk with him.

"I'll make a small announcement. They might like him, they might not."

* * *

I have never been nervous before in my life, but after seeing such a big crowd of humans right in front of where I was to stand . . . well, there's a first for everything.

"Attention! May I please have your undivided attention!" said Kyki.

Kyki and I stood on top of a large cliff over the crowd of humans (I, however, was hiding behind some rocks). This new room that we were in was called "The Main Room", but most people just call it the "Main", or that's what Kyki told me. This room was probably twice as big as the other room that I saw all the humans in. But after seeing this crowd, I can now laugh at how amazed I was at seeing "so many humans". This room must've had thousands! And now I have to show myself in front of each and every one of them!

Now that I think about it, just a few days ago, I was worried about being seen by one human, and now all these are about to find out about me?

Should I let Kyki expose me like this? Can I trust these humans?

_Well, they did help save your life. In a way you do owe them._

Maybe, but should I even go this far? What would the leader think about this?

_He would probably kill you for even being over here in the human territory. Who knows what he might do to you if he found out that you've shown yourself in front of all these humans_.

Good point, but I like that "if" part better.

"Thank you! Now I know these times have been hard on all of us! But I think that I might have a solution!"

Kyki's voice boomed through the room, bouncing off the brown walls and to everyone's ear. He really knew how to talk.

"We have all seen what the RAM forces have done to all of us. They have gone to our homes and stolen everything, they have harassed us and our children, both physically and sexually, they have killed our wives, husbands, children, friends, and relatives of all kinds, they have placed unpayable taxes on us and tortured those who cannot pay it, they have placed laws that tell us not to run, but to walk, they have placed officers around each and every block just to keep us in line, and they have given us numbers and gotten rid of our names."

Has the RAM really done this much to the humans? I mean, I knew they were bad and all, but after hearing everything Kyki said, a new vision of this enemy has come into my head. I can't imagine what these humans have to go through each day!

"And that is just the beginning! I do not need to say everything they do, for we all know what terrible disasters they can create. We now stand here, in this room beneath the surface of the RAM, to be free."

Beneath the surface? Are we underground? That could explain why the walls are brown, it's dirt.

"Here they cannot tell us what to do or how to do it. Here, we do not have to worry about our children or even ourselves. Here . . . we can truly be free!"

The crowd started roaring with agreement and cheers. Many even put their fists up in a manner of pride for being in such a free place.

"But, the RAM still try to take this freedom that we have away from us. They have called us Rebels and the Resistance, but we call ourselves the Freedom Fighters, for that is what we do. We have to fight for our own freedom and for our own lives."

A rebel force? Is that what they are? That could explain a lot of things.

"But I have not called all of you here to listen to something we already know, I have called you here to introduce someone that has come and helped us in battle. Usually I don't make such a big announcement about a newcomer, but this one is very . . . special."

To most of my people, I'm just a everyday, ordinary Pikachu, but to these humans, I must be like the all mighty, powerful, Pikachu. In a way, I could use some of that kind of respect.

"So please welcome him to our home with open arms and smiles of joy and acceptance!"

The crowd was starting to get anxious to find out who I was already. I could tell by all of the movement and the shouts. Kyki was almost giving them too much to look forward to.

_Okay, it's either do or don't. Make up your mind and choose wisely_.

"Fellow Freedom Fighters. . ."

Here it comes! What should I do? Should I really show myself to all of these humans? Could I trust them?

"May I introduce to you. . ."

Come on! Think, think, THINK!

"Our new Freedom Fighter. . ."

Should I? Shouldn't I?

"Pikachu!" announced Kyki.

I sighed and stepped out of my hiding place and walked over next to Kyki. The crowd stopped in silence and motion.

I could see open mouths and wide eyes. Some of the young humans even hid behind their mothers' in fear of me. Why would they be afraid?

Kyki placed both of his hands on each of my shoulders and looked straight into the shocked crowd.

"I know that this is a real surprise and everything, but this little guy is, in fact, one of the legendary Pokemon. He is going to help us and-"

"GET RID OF IT!"

Someone in the large crowd was somehow able to shout loud enough for everyone to hear him, including me and Kyki.

Kyki was confused and asked, "Excuse me?"

"I said get rid of it!" shouted the same person again.

Kyki was speechless and didn't know what to say, I could tell because of how he kept opening his mouth, but nothing came out.

"That's right! I say that we get rid of it!" shouted the person again.

Some of the humans around the person started asking him "why?" and "how?".

"I tell you why we need to get rid of that-that-thing! It's because-"

Suddenly, the ground started shaking. The crowd was starting to clutter to other places and run in fear.

Then, a giant explosion happened on the wall in front of me. I had to cover my eyes from the light that was made after the explosion.

After the dust settled, I could make out a large hole, just like the hole these humans did when they saved me. But, this couldn't be their hole, everyone was running for their lives right now.

I turned to Kyki and looked at him. He pulled his hands off of my shoulders and started mumbling things.

"How did they? How could they? Why did?"

He kept asking himself these questions and refused to move.

I turned back around to face the hole in the wall. I could now make out more humans in green clothes with guns. They where all screaming victory cries and chanting stuff I couldn't hear.

The RAM had somehow got to this place and are now attacking the Freedom Fighters.

**Yay for cliffhangers! XD lol**

**Sorry that this took so long, my life has been really pilled up. I'm sorry to say, but I wont be able to make the next chapter until about three weeks. Why? BECAUSE I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! XD**

**I kind of rushed this one, so it might not be as good as I hoped it would be (too excited about going to Disney!).**

**Well, I'll see you when I come back!**


	5. Day Five

War of Hope Day 5

I stared at the hole in the wall on the other side of the large room. RAM humans where still pouring out of it and landing on the ground right next to the crowd of "Freedom Fighters" in front of me.

When the RAM landed on the ground, they immediately started shooting at the large crowd and killed whoever was close to there guns' reach.

I stood there, both shocked and confused at the same time. I watched as the RAM started killing all of the fleeing people, from young infants to the elderly. They kept slaughtering them as if they where just . . . things.

Kyki looked confused too, but turned around and ran down the cliff we where on.

Should I help these humans? After all, they still think of me as a monster, a thing that was made just to harm them even though I helped them . . . supposedly.

But then, why not help them? They did save me, so I guess I should repay them.

That reminded me of Matt. He is still unconscious and would probably be slaughtered just like all the other humans here. An image of Matt came into my mind, still unmoving and asleep in his room, then was filled up with RAM humans and they started shooting him point blank. I shuddered.

Then it's that. If I won't help these humans, these "Freedom Fighters", for not treating me with respect, then I'll at least help them for the sake of Matt's life.

I looked down the edge of the cliff. It was a long way down, but the side of it angled slightly outward. That just might help me.

The humans are less crowded now, either from depletion thanks to the RAM or from successfully running away from them into another room. The floor was mostly filled with the RAM, armed well and ready to kill again.

I backed up a few steps, getting ready. Then, ran over to the edge and jumped off.

For about half a moment, the feeling of flying came over me. The thrill of lightless and no ground overcame my emotions. Sadly, right after that moment, my stomach was filled with Butterfrees and my emotions where switched to fear.

I forgot that I was afraid of hights.

I tried my best to shake off those feelings and concentrate on the angled slope. As I fell, I pushed my feet in front of me and landed right on the slope.

I started sliding on the slope, downward toward the RAM. But, I was sliding fast and I've never done anything like this, plus I was losing control of my footing as I slid.

There was one RAM standing right where I was headed, so I jumped off the slope and right onto his head. My velocity and acceleration combined with the pinpoint hit on the RAM's head made him fall straight to the ground, giving me an automatic KO.

I climbed off the RAM and headed for the next nearest one. This one must have heard me coming, for he turned around, made a shocked face, then started shooting at me. I used my speed to easily dodge the bullets and get me to the RAM. He saw me coming quickly and attempted to swing his gun at me. Of course, he was just too slow for my speed and I dodged it while swinging my tail around towards the side of his head. That made him fall like a rock.

Another RAM nearby saw me and my fight. He took out a black cube and started talking in it. Last time one of them talked to one of those things, more and more RAM came. That must be what he was doing right now.

I strained my ears to over hear what he was saying, but all the loud noise from so many shooting guns made it hard to hear myself think.

I ran over to the RAM, but had to stop as another bullet whizzed over my nose, nearly hitting it. I turned to where the bullet came from and saw about five RAM humans pointing their guns at me.

I had only a split moment to run over to the side in order to dodge a swarm of killer bullets that probably would have killed if I didn't move. I could hear the bullets rip the air right next to my ears as they whizzed past. The sound and fear of it made me flinch and loose thought for a few moments.

I ran to the side, trying to find some kind of cover from these RAM, but the whole room was flat ground.

Another RAM, right were I was headed, was shooting at some fleeing people, not noticing me or the other RAM behind me.

He just might come in handy.

I shouted at the top of my lungs to try to be heard over the roar of bullets and shouts of other humans. Apparently, he did hear me and turned around to face me.

Before he was able to react, I speed up even more, with the hail of bullets still following me, and ran behind the unintelligent RAM. The stupid RAM that were shooting at me must've thought that they were smart by trying to follow me with their guns, but when I ran behind this RAM, the hail of bullets all landed right on his chest.

The RAM humans that were shooting me stopped their fire as the RAM that was actually shot fell to the ground. He started oozing blood out of his body and didn't move. He was dead.

He died.

As I saw his blood ooze out, I realized that I had just killed someone. I had just taken away someone's life!

But did I? After all, it was the RAM that killed their own human, but it was me that tricked them into doing it. So, was it truly my fault?

All of the other RAM that I fought with before just got knocked out of their consciousness, but this . . . this is true death. This is stealing someone's life, whether or not they were enemies.

I killed him.

The RAM that were shooting at me tried to shoot again, but for some reason nothing came out of their guns. Out of bullets maybe? It didn't matter, for they threw their guns down and ran over to me, totally ignoring the dead body now lying on the ground before them.

I released a large wave of electricity out of my own body and threw it towards the oncoming RAM. When the RAM saw the yellow bolt, they reached into their pockets and pulled out something small, round, and black. Without stopping, they pressed something on the . . . something and released a large, purple, transparent shell of some kind. The purple shell quickly grew outward, then around each of the RAM, soon completely covering them with the stuff.

When my electricity came to them, the transparent shell had already covered them and absorbed the bolt. When my bolt was gone, the RAM pressed something on their small, black things, making the purple stuff disappear, and continued running towards me, almost as if it was nothing to them.

The "shield" of some kind reminded me of an ability that some of the Psychic Tribe could do. They called it a "Safe Guard".

Could these RAM be learning? Where they watching my attacks and learning how to avoid them? That could explain this . . . Artificial Safe Guard blocking my attack.

I ran towards them. They don't have their precious guns anymore, so now they shouldn't stand a chance.

One of them dived towards me, trying to grab me. I simply stepped to the side and flung around my tail straight to his head. That made him roll over and almost knocked over one of the other RAM humans, but one RAM jumped over him and pulled out some sort of small blade out of his other pocket.

He jumped over to me with his small blade held out, pointing it at me. I quickly moved over to where the RAM that was on the ground was to dodge the attack, but I thought he was unconscious. He surprised me by grabbing me and held me for the RAM with the blade.

I tried to wiggled out, but this one was very strong, so I released a burst of electricity to make him let go. He shouted out in pain and let go of me.

The RAM with the blade saw me escape and made a dash for me. I stood my ground, if he thought he could get me at point blank with a close range weapon, then that tells everyone that he has never faced anyone like me before.

But then, the other three RAM came out of nowhere and grabbed me. Of course! There was five and I only concentrated on two. I completely forgot about the other three!

These three were also very strong and held me tightly. The RAM with the blade slowed his pace, probably thinking that he should make it dramatic and thinking that I had no way of escaping this time.

I used my electricity on the three that held me. They grunted loudly, but didn't let go.

The one with the blade looked at me straight in my face while scrapping his sharp blade across my neck, trying to look cool and evil at the same time. Well, I've got a few tricks waiting for him.

I jumped off of the ground, surprising the three RAM holding me and the one with the blade. I did a small half-flip and kicked the blade out of the RAM's hand. The blade dangled in the air and landed right on an oncoming RAM's leg, apparently at the wrong place at the wrong time.

After the blade was gone, I released another burst of electricity while twisting my body around with all of my strength. The combination of pain and tugging made all of the RAM let go and allowed me to slam my now glowing tail right on the back of one, making him fly onto another. I gave him and the other another gift of my electricity, knocking both of them out. The other two started running away from me and into a small crowd of even more RAM humans.

One of the runners saw the dead RAM body that was killed and he started eyeing the gun that laid to its side.

He picked up the gun and automatically started shooting at me. I ran over to the side, using most of my speed just to dodge both his bullets and the stray bullets of the other RAM.

I can't keep this up. If it's this hard for just that small group of RAM humans, I don't even want to think about the whole hail of RAM that keep coming out of that hole.

I saw another body laying down on the ground (dead or knocked out, I could not tell) and hid myself right behind it. It was rolled over to its side, so I just had to duck so that nothing would hit me.

But then, two RAM jumped over the body and spotted me, pointing their guns at me and getting ready. I was trapped. If I tried to run again, they could easily catch me, for I was just too tired from all of the running I had already done. If I tried to fight them, I might be able to take out one, but I just don't have enough energy for the other, which would defiantly kill me.

Both of them raised their guns up to were their eyes could see through the top of it and aim straight at me. I squeezed my eyes shut and got ready for the pain.

I could hear guns shooting.

I waited for the bullets to come and sink into my body.

I waited.

Still no pain?

Was I dead? Did you not feel anything when you die?

I opened my eyes. The two RAM where now on the ground, holes all over their bodies and bleeding everywhere.

But, how did that happen?

I looked to my side. There was Kyki and other humans (obviously some of the Freedom Fighters) with guns. Kyki had a gun that was long and thick while the others had slimmer guns with a part sticking out of the bottom.

Kyki ran over to me with his gun raised high.

"Are you okay?!" he shouted over all of the noise.

I quickly nodded my head and ran over to the others. They moved to the sides, making a gap for me to enter. When I did, they quickly filled the gap and started shooting at any oncoming RAM.

"Pikachu! Are you sure that you are okay?" He shouted each word loud and slowly, making sure that each one was heard. I nodded my head again.

He nodded his and began shouting at the other Freedom Fighters.

"All right! This is the real deal, boys! Lets show these idiots what we've got! Left flank, take out all RAM coming out of that hole! Right flank, take out any RAM that are already on the ground! MOVE IT!"

Immediately, the group of Freedom Fighters split into two and started shooting at the Ram that they were ordered to shoot at.

Kyki got out one of the black cubes and started talking into them. Soon after, a huge, metal, gun like, thing with wheels came out of nowhere behind me and rolled over to where I stood.

I stood amazed as the giant, rolling thing. It looked like half- car and half-gun, just that the gun and the car was one hundred times bigger!

After I stared at it in awe, the "giant gun" shot out a giant blue beam. I had to cover my ears, for when it shot, it made an ear-piercing noise that could be heard even over all the loud noise already going on. The blue beam raced across the room and up to the RAM's hole, hitting it right in the center.

Kyki and others that where near him punched their fists into the air with a cry of victory.

I looked behind the giant gun and saw even more Freedom Fighters coming out from behind it. It seemed that we just might have a chance in this battle!

The giant gun kept blasting out its blue beams at the hole while the Freedom Fighters on the ground took care of the RAM out of the hole and around it.

Then, when the giant gun shot another blue beam at the hole, instead of hitting something, it bounced off and was sent straight back to where it came from. At seeing it come our way, I dived to the side, trying to avoid the collusion.

The blue beam hit right where the giant gun shot it out and made it stagger back with blue static and smoke coming out.

Kyki ran over to the thing and ripped open a part on the side. Smoke came pouring out, but Kyki reached both of his hands in and pulled out a human.

"Are you okay, solider?" he shouted.

"I'm fine, sir!" said the human in Kyki's arms. Soon after, coughing.

"Is the SBC still active?" asked Kyki.

"Yes, sir, but the main battery was-" He coughed. "Destroyed."

Kyki swore, then pulled the human completely out of the giant gun and laid him on the ground, behind the others.

"What hit the SBC?" asked Kyki to the human.

"I think it-" Another cough. "I think it was a Reflex, sir!"

Kyki swore again, this time louder with more anger.

"Is there any way we could power back up the SBC?" asked Kyki.

"Not that I know of, sir!" This time, a small coughing fit. "Only if you were somehow able to provide over two gigs of electricity straight into the power supply system, but I can't think of any way to provide that much power, sir!"

Kyki thanked him and looked around. By the look on his face, he looked worried.

When his eyes met mine, I could tell an idea hit him.

"Pikachu! Quickly, come over here!"

I ran over to his side and listened.

"Pikachu, do you think that you could power that?" he asked while pointing at the giant gun. "That is called a SBC, it's a very powerful super cannon, but it needs a lot of electricity. Can you do that?"

I looked at their "SBC". The human said that it needs two gigs of power. What did that mean? The way he said it, it sounded like a lot.

Could I do it? Back at home, at the MCIP, I had to help make the antidotes and potions to cure hurt or sick Pokemon. When the antidote is ready, the only way to actually make it work is with the right amount of electricity. When I first started doing that, I thought that I was going to pass out from using so much electricity, but later on, I got used to using so much and now it's nothing. But, seeing this huge thing, a small bottle of potion seamed like nothing.

Suddenly, there was a large earth quake coming from the hole. I looked over at the hole and saw a large, black, long, slim, something with wheels. The front of it was slick and shinny.

Then, out of the thing, a huge, red beam came out of it and slammed onto the ground. It did it again, this time at the fleeing people that didn't have any guns or anything to protect them.

"No! It's already half way through that hole!" shouted Kyki from behind me.

He laid his hands on my shoulders and turned me around to face him.

"Pikachu, that is a Reflex. If that thing gets through that hole and into this room, we are all dead!"

His seriousness in his tone made me scared. He was now putting a lot of pressure on my shoulders (figuratively).

He pulled his hands off of me as I thought.

Well actually . . . I didn't really think about anything. It was pretty much self-explanatory. Live and power up their "SBC", or die with this "Reflex".

I walked over to the SBC as Kyki ran over to one part of it. He got to a spot and slammed the back of his fist on it. Right when he hit it, a small hole opened up and Kyki immediately pushed his hand into the hole in the SBC. After that, he pulled out two small strands of some kind. One was red and one was blue.

He handed them to me, then he went to the part of the SBC that he pulled the other human out of and climbed in.

I stared at the red and blue things. I saw that at the very end of each of them was some gray and brown metal. Was I supposed to put my electricity into these things?

I shrugged and spat on both of the strands, then placed them on the red part of my cheeks. Using my own saliva to help the electricity flow and help the metal stick to my cheeks was a little trick I learned back home. I, then, got my electricity ready and released as much as I could into the red and blue things.

They seemed to have sucked out almost all the power I offered. I felt like I was being drained from life, but I kept pushing. Giving more and more electricity as I could.

It seemed to be working, for the SBC slowly turned and moved the shooting part slightly up. Kyki must be aiming it or something.

"AH!"

I turned my head towards the shout, but didn't stop my flow of electricity. One of the Freedom Fighters had fell to the ground and was now laying there, dead.

Some more Freedom Fighters came from behind me and grouped right in front of me where the fallen human's spot was and began shooting at all the RAM trying to come to us.

The Reflex was still moving outward and was still shooting red beams at both innocent people and Freedom Fighters.

"HUH!"

One of the humans in front of me was shot and was sent spinning to the ground.

"Ah!"

Another one.

"GAH!"

And another one.

They were being slaughtered. Come on, keep pushing!

More, more, more, more electricity came rushing out of my body and into the SBC. I didn't know how long I could keep this up. Man, how much is a freaking "gig"?

"_Remember, stay focused on the target and only the target."_

Memories started flooding my mind. The time that I learned how to control my electric attacks better and with more accuracy with my teacher. He teacher was a Raichu, and not just any Raichu. He was known for his electricity and making it close to deathly.

"_Concentrate on your target and release everything you've got."_

I remembered trying to shock a rock or a tree, something that usually wasn't affected by my electricity.

But, this Raichu could melt down a rock if you gave him enough time, and he made me practice on stuff like that.

Everyone wanted to learn from him. I was one of the very few lucky ones to be able to get lessons from him.

I remember that day. That day that he told me one of the most important things to me.

"_Listen to me and listen to me well, young one. I can teach you everything I know, every shock, blast, bolt, thunder, everything. I could teach you how to pick something up without touching it with your paws, I could teach you all those fancy moves that everyone wants to see, I could teach you how to find your opponent without your eyes or your ears, I could even teach you how to do the Electic Ritual Dance perfectly. But remember this: You cannot accomplish any of these things or anything at all unless you have one thing."_

I remember waiting for him to finish, but he stood there, so I guessed that I was supposed to say something.

"_What thing, teacher? What is it that I must acquire?"_

He stood quiet, staring at me straight into my eyes. I wanted to learn! My mind thirsted for more knowledge.

But he still stood quiet. Until finally he spoke.

"_The one thing that you must have in order to do anything in life, especially in battle, is . . . hope."_

"PIKACHU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Kyki's voice from inside the SBC startled me and brought me back to the real world. I must've been in so much thought about my memories of home that I forgot about powering up the SBC.

I pushed out as much electricity as I could again.

Hope. My teacher taught me to always have hope, for without hope, how could you accomplish anything in life? Say someone was stranded on an island and needed food. He searched the island and eventually found some fruit in a very tall tree, but that person had no hope of reaching the fruit. Why should he try? How could he even consider trying to get the fruit without even hopping to get it?

I hope that I can do this.

I know I can do this.

More and more electricity that I didn't even know I had came out and surged into the SBC. The red and blue strands were starting to heat up on my cheeks.

The Reflex was almost all the way out, this time shooting near the Freedom Fighters in front of me. One red beam came right on two of the humans near me. Their bodies turned into a dark red light, then obliterated into nothing, disappearing right in front of me. I continued to push.

I had hope.

I had confidence.

I have confidence.

The Reflex shot out another red beam towards us. However, right when the beam came out of it, the SBC shot out a blue beam.

The two beams met each other in collusion. The red beam seemed to have quivered under the strength of the blue beam and was obliterated, as was the blue beam.

The SBC shot again, this time straight at the Reflex.

The Reflex's front part (the part that was slick and shinny) moved upward, trying to block the oncoming beam.

That must have been how they reflected the beam before! I, quickly, tore off the two strands on my cheeks and looked straight at the Reflex's front.

"_Concentrate on your target."_

I hope this works.

I used up the last bit of my energy into a giant thunder bolt. It filled the room with a yellow light and dashed to the Reflex. It speed ahead of the blue beam and hit the Reflex's front, making it shake and tremble, but also made the front come back down (it even started hanging off the end of the Reflex).

After that, the blue beam slammed into the Reflex and blew it up into smithereens. The Freedom Fighters from all around punched their fists into the air with a victory cry. I gladly joined in with their cry and punched my own fist into the air with pride.

After our cries were done, I noticed that the shooting had stopped. I walked over to the group of humans in front of me and looked over their shoulders. All of the RAM that were still alive had their hands up and their guns on the ground.

Another cry of victory was shouted, this time louder and with more people joining. I joined in once again with my fist in the air.

We won.

* * *

Kyki walked next to me while we walked over the ruins of the battle.

"What a battle. You did pretty good, Pikachu. I have to say that I am impressed!" he said.

I nodded my head in thanks to him.

Kyki and I walked over to a Freedom Fighter who was checking an injured human that was laying on the ground.

"How is he doing?" asked Kyki after seeing the injured human.

"He got shot in his hand and one in his leg, but the only reason that he's laying down is that he fainted at the sight of his own blood," said the Freedom Fighter.

"Well, is he okay at least?" asked Kyki.

"He'll be fine, sir. Luckily, none of the bullets hit anything life threatening."

The Freedom Fighter got out a white roll of something, then started wrapping it around the two gun wounds.

"I still don't know how the RAM found us or why they attacked us at this time. . .Wait. Private, what time do you have?" asked Kyki.

The human looked on his wrist. There was a small, round, thing that had numbers on it and was wrapped around the human's wrist.

"Eleven hundred hours, sir."

"No, what time is it on the surface?"

"Oh." The human checked the thing on his wrist again. "It should be around o' two hundred up there, sir."

Kyki nodded his head. "That explains why they attacked us right now. They must've thought that they would have an advantage if they attacked while we are asleep, but they forgot that we go by a different time zone down here."

He thanked the human and continued walking and I followed.

"I still don't understand how they found us. What about you?"

I shrugged my shoulders. I don't even know where I am, so how could I possibly know how the RAM found this place?

We walked next to a dead RAM body, a sight that I never wanted to see, but when Kyki saw the body, he walked over to it and kneeled down next to it. He placed his hands on the body's arm and started gently squeezing it. From there, he moved his hands up the arm, still squeezing every part.

He went up the shoulder, from there he moved to the neck, then moved back down to the chest.

Then, he stopped his hands right at the center of the chest area. He started squeezing and pushing on the chest as if he had found something.

He put one of his hands in his pocket and pulled out a blade similar to the one the RAM had. At the spot that he felt on the dead RAM's chest, he stabbed the blade down into the skin and started cutting the chest open. It was a sickening sight and I wanted to look the other way, but then I saw something shinny in the raw meat.

Kyki saw it too and grabbed it, but it was entangled with some nerves and veins so he had to cut them away, spilling blood over his hands. When he finally got that through, he grabbed the shinny thing and pulled it out.

It was a very, very small piece of metal, but it didn't look like a bullet.

"I think I just found out how they found us, Pikachu," Kyki said.

I looked at him, puzzled. He stood back up, threw the small piece of metal to the ground with his bloody hand, and squashed it with his foot.

"That, my friend, was a micro transmitter. That told RAM HQ where we are."

He swore under his breath, again.

"Those must've been in the RAM we captured when we rescued you. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't be surprised if they were in every single RAM here."

He and I looked at all of the dead bodies laying around. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands laying there, and that was just the RAM.

Kyki shook his head, then called over another human.

"Yes, sir?" asked the human.

"Do you still have all of the surrendered RAM captive?"

"Of course, sir. We still have the previously captured RAM from when we rescued Tacawho."

"Pikachu," I corrected.

The human looked down at me, apologized, then looked back at Kyki.

Kyki seemed to be deep in thought about something. After awhile, he nodded his head and looked at the human.

"Kill them."

"Excuse me, sir?"

"I said to kill them, all of them, solider."

The human was surprised at Kyki. I was surprised at Kyki. Why did he want all of those RAM dead? I mean, sure they are bad and all, but no one should have to choose if someone lives or not.

"But, why, sir?"

Kyki looked back at the body he had just cut open. Its insides were partially showing and it was still bleeding. I turned away from the sight.

"They have a tracking device inside each of them, entangled between vital nerves and veins. I want you to kill all of them, then get the medics to come and pull each of the transmitters out."

"But, sir, couldn't we just knock them out, then take out the tracking device?" This human definitely didn't want to kill these RAM, not in cold blood. I don't blame him.

"No, taking out the transmitters would kill them anyways. Besides, we don't have enough supplies or money to knock them all out and do surgery. I'm sorry, but this must be done."

The human stayed quiet, but turned around and walked away. Kyki followed him and so did I.

Soon, we came to a room filled with RAM. They were trapped behind metal bars while we were at a part where there were no bars at all.

The human got some other humans and told them something. Soon after, each one of them left then came back with guns.

The RAM behind the bars looked shocked at the sight of them with guns. Most of their faces filled with fear or anger.

As the humans got the guns ready, the RAM started pleading to them, begging them not to do it. There faces made me cry.

Just imagine knowing that you where going to die in cold blood. How awful it must be to have such a feeling!

But they had no choice. The guns were ready and shot down each of the RAM, all at once. I turned my head away so I wouldn't have to see them die. No one should die like this.

_But they are RAM. Don't they deserve it?_

No one deserves to die in cold blood.

_Then how should a person die?_

I thought about it. If you ask me, no one is supposed to die. We were all supposed to live forever, but because we have made terrible mistakes in our lives, we die. Whether if it is from attacking the innocent or telling a lie, we have all done something bad that leads to our death.

That's what one of the Pokemon from the Psychic Tribe told me. They always mediated on the reasons to life and death. Most of them said that death is a normal part of life, but one said something different.

I remember going to see him every other day. I would ask him questions and he always answered with logic and truth.

He taught me that death is a normal thing to life, but it wasn't always like that. He believed that every life was made to live forever, but only the perfect ones. However, no one is perfect, and because of that, no one lives forever.

He always made everything make since to me, so I respected him for that.

* * *

Later that day, Kyki gave me some food to eat (he had to cancel the large meal because of the attack) and told me that they would have to move areas.

"Right now, the RAM might still know where this place is, so we have to move to another area. Somewhere safe and welcoming. You can stay with us if you want, but you're free to go if you want. Your friend is still unconscious, but the nurse says that he should wake up sometime tomorrow, but he will stay in the same situation he is in now."

I nodded my head and took another bite out of some fruit he gave me.

"If there is anything you need, anything at all, please ask. We are in debt to you for helping us."

I thought about it. Since Matt is still very sick, I'll have to stick with my old plan, take him home with me.

But, I'm sure without one of those cars, it would take too long.

_That could be something to ask for._

Yeah, but how am I going to ask them? They don't understand me.

_Well. . .you can at least try._

**Sorry that this took so long to make. Geez, every time that I have plenty of time, something pops out of nowhere! Sorry again, guys. I hope you liked this one though!**


	6. Day Six

War of Hope Day 6

I was running. Running for my life. I didn't know where or why, just that fear filled my whole being and fueled my legs.

The RAM where everywhere. One was running right next to me, holding up his gun and pointing it right at my face.

He shot.

I dodged.

Then, I was suddenly slammed onto the ground by some invisible force. As I struggled back to my feet, I saw a drop of red blood fall down to the ground.

I tried to follow the source of the fallen blood. I looked above me, but there was no one there.

But as I looked over my shoulder, I saw the source of the dark red blood. My own shoulder was dark red, oozing out the life of my veins.

I grabbed my bleeding shoulder with my other free hand. I couldn't feel the blood, but I could tell that it didn't look good.

The RAM that shot me called to his other comrades. They ran over and saw me with guns held. Soon, they circled me, making me right in the middle of a circle of loaded guns, all pointing at me.

It was over. I knew that it was going to end here, there saw no way out of this one. Even if I tried to fight one of them, the others would've already shot and killed me.

I looked down at the floor. There, by my feet, laid Matt's body. Blood was oozing out of his mouth and his body didn't move or even twitch.

Matt was dead?! But . . . how could he have died?

Right when we've gotten so far.

I looked back up at the RAM's faces. Each of them, where there was supposed to have been a face filled with emotion, was nothing. No eyes, ears, nose, mouth . . . nothing. Just a completely blank, empty face.

Then, I heard a click. Just like the click from when Matt's mother was killed.

I closed my eyes and braced myself for the pain.

And I waited . . .

And waited . . .

And waited . . . but . . .

No shot?

I opened my eyes. The RAM were still there, still with their guns and all. Just moments after I opened my eyes, there was a loud BANG!

And I fell.

And blood filled my vision.

* * *

I jolted upright in my nest. My whole body was sweating like crazy, and I couldn't get my hands to stop shaking.

I looked around myself. I was in a small room with brown walls and a brown floor. One part of the wall was silver and (as I recall) can open and close to allow people in and out. At the top of the room, there was a round object that projected light throughout the entire room.

I was still in the Freedom Fighter's hideout.

I quickly checked my shoulder. Nothing was there. No blood, no wound, no bullet.

I checked my other shoulder and saw the same results: nothing.

_Relax. It was just a dream_.

Maybe, but why am I having all of these nightmares? Are my dreams trying to tell me something? What could they mean?

Then, the sliver part of the wall opened and revealed Kyki. He was holding a wide, thin, long, metal sheet, and on top of it was some fruits and a container filled with water.

"Knock, knock," he said with a smile.

I tilted my head. Knock, knock?

"You're supposed to say, 'Who's there?'"

Do humans always say this when they enter a room? I decided to play along and said, "Who's there." I guess even though he can't understand what I said, it is pretty obvious what I said.

"Aint cha," said Kyki and placed the food in front of me.

"Aint cha"? What is that supposed to mean? He tells me to ask who's there and he-

"'Aint cha' gonna eat that?" Kyki said and started chuckling.

After a while of chuckling and seeing that I wasn't laughing at whatever joke he had made, he stopped laughing and sat down.

"Um . . . sorry. I just thought that I could cheer you up a bit. You don't look too good. Had a hard time sleeping?" he asked.

I nodded my head. Nightmares have never given me a good night's sleep.

Kyki nodded his own head while he picked up the container filled with water and gave it to me.

"I guess that happens after you've just been in a battle. But don't worry about it, I'm sure it'll go away eventually."

I wasn't so sure about that. My whole night was devoted to giving me nightmares. This wasn't the first time I woke up. It seemed like every other moment, I would suddenly wake up from a dream of Matt being killed right in front of my face or the RAM kidnaping me and eventually killing me. It seems the closer I get to home, the more nightmares I get.

I took the container with both of my paws and held it to my lips. I drank the water slowly, savoring the taste and the feeling of something wet on my tung.

I gave the rest of the water back to Kyki, so that he could give it to me later, and grabbed some of the fruit on the metal sheet.

"You might want to savor that too," said Kyki, pointing at the fruit I was biting into. "All of this fruit came straight from the plant. We grow our fruits right here, or whatever other underground hideout we happen to be at. It's only underground that you can actually get dirt and mud."

I knew what he meant by that. When I was aboveground, all I saw was metal scraps and tar along with whatever survived the war with the RAM.

I bit into the fruit I was holding. It tasted juicy and sweet, something I haven't had for days. Now, I knew why Kyki told me to savor it.

And I did with slow, big bites.

When I got done eating everything and finishing off my water, Kyki put the now empty container to the side and looked at me seriously.

"Okay, Pikachu. Have you decided yet? Would you like to stay with us as we move to a different location or return to the surface and leave?" asked Kyki.

I hesitated. I want to go home, but how do I tell him that? He won't understand me if I just talk. I'll have to use some sort of body language.

I pointed my finger up, towards the top of the room. Maybe that will tell him.

"You want to go back to the surface?" asked Kyki. He sounded a little disappointed.

I nodded my head. I can't stay here. Matt is dying and the MCIP might be his only chance of living.

Kyki sighed. He obviously didn't want me to leave.

"Alright, I suppose you have your reasons, but we will miss you. We are also still in your debt, so if there is anything you need, just please ask."

Well . . . I do need a car so that we could make it to the shore by tonight, maybe even earlier.

Then that raises the other question that I have been pondering: How am I supposed to tell these humans that I want a car and I want to bring Matt with me?

Matt. I completely forgot about him.

I got up and walked over to the silver part of the wall, but it didn't open. Kyki watched me go to the wall and wait, so he got up and walked over next to me.

"If you want to open that door," he said. So, this is called a "door", huh? "You have to place your finger here."

Kyki walked over to the . . . um. . . "door" . . . held out his thumb and placed it at the center of it. Immediately, a small, blue, square appeared on the door, right where Kyki's thumb was placed.

A darker blue line appeared in the square and moved down, from the top to the bottom. After the line went completely over Kyki's thumb, the square disappeared and the . . . darn it, I forgot the name again. Man, there are way too many things here that only humans get and I have to memorize!

Door! That's it! Now, I remember! Then the door opened.

"Most of the doors here don't need your thumb print, but if it's locked, then you have to," explained Kyki.

Locked? What is "locked"?

Kyki must've seen my confused face, for he later said, "Never mind."

We walked out of the room, but as soon as my foot left the room, the door slid strait back into place. I don't remember it doing that before.

But then, on the other paw, I was always too busy worrying about other things (such as introducing myself to herds of humans which ended up in an all-out battle with the RAM).

When the door closed behind us, Kyki looked down at me.

"I'm guessing that you want to see your friend again, right?"

I nodded to him. He was very observant.

He nodded back and led me over to a small tunnel, then to the same path we went by the last time.

Soon, we had to walk by the battle ground that I had to fight in the day before. There were less human bodies laying around than before, but there were still a bunch left. Enough to chill any by-passers' bones about the thought of death himself.

As we walked, I saw some humans picking up the remains of fellow dead Freedom Fighters and throwing them into a large fire. I had just noticed the fire, but that surprised myself because the fire was so big.

It laid in the very center of the worn out battle ground, with flames waving towards the air and climbing to the top of the room.

I looked closer at the flame, for something caught my eye.

There were bodies. Dead. Human. Bodies.

They were all laid on top of each other, whether they were Freedom Fighters or not, I could not tell, but as I walked by and watched the living humans throw another dead human body into the huge fire, I knew what it was.

Cremation.

Back at home, whenever someone would die, we would cremate their body and have a large mourning for the loss. I have been to one before.

When my grandfather died.

I never knew him before, but my mom always talked about how good of a person he was. I don't know why she would always talk about him like that and never show him to me, maybe he was too far away to meet or something.

Anyway, the day he was cremated was the day that I first saw him, but everyone else at his cremation ceremony seemed to have known him well. They all mourned his death with tears and cheerful memories of his past.

But here, there isn't any mourning around and no one spoke of the humans now in the huge flame of death. Is this how humans cremate their deceased? Was there not a time spared to remember those who died in such a battle?

Kyki looked down at me and saw me watch the humans throw their dead into the huge fire.

"Terrible thing, isn't it?" he said.

I stopped walking and turned to him.

"Most of the time we would burry the bodies and have this thing called a 'funeral', were we have a ceremony for those brave soldiers who died for all of these people."

Kyki looked up to the fire and stared at its flames.

"But because of the circumstances, we have to burn the bodies as quickly as possible. If we don't, then we probably might all die from disease. That . . . we cannot afford."

Kyki looked away from the fire and continued walking. I took one last glace at the fire.

"_Do you believe in a life after death?"_

Matt's words repeated in my head as I watch the human throw in yet another dead body into the fire.

If this is what all life leads too, being tossed away into a fire and forgotten, then what is the whole point of living? What is the whole point of existing?

Maybe Matt had made a point that night. Maybe there was another meaning for living than just to live.

_Such as a purpose?_

Well . . . Yeah. I guess so.

With these thoughts still in my head, I looked away from the fire and caught up with Kyki.

* * *

"And here we are!" said Kyki as he walked up to the silver door I saw the day before.

This time, Kyki didn't place his thumb on the door, but just walked up to it and it opened by itself.

When we walked in, the same female from last time, Jury Neso, was still sitting by Matt's sleeping body.

"Oh. Hello, Kyki," she said when he walked in. "And hello to you too, Pikachu," she said with a smile when she noticed me.

Finally! Someone that got my name right the first time!

"Hello, Jury. How is this little guy doing?" asked Kyki and kneeled down to Matt's body.

"He is starting to come around, actually. I was just about to go get you and Pikachu to tell you," said Jury.

"Well, I guess we came at the right time, huh, Pikachu?" asked Kyki as he looked over his shoulder and at me.

I didn't say anything back, but just walked up to Matt's body.

I looked at his stomach. His clothes covering his chest were gone along with the strips of cloth covering with wound.

I walked over to his wound. It was still purple and black, but it had yellow and white puss oozing out of the very edges of the wound.

Jury must've seen the worry on my face, for she told me, "I tried my best, but it's still getting worse."

"About how long does he have left?" asked Kyki.

"About one or two days, I'm afraid," said Jury.

Right when she was finished talking, Matt started shifting and mumbled something to himself. His eyes were still closed, so he must have been dreaming.

I ran over to his head and tried to wake him up.

"Matt! Matt! It's me, Pikachu! Wake up!" I didn't care if he couldn't understand me, I was just happy that he was awake again.

Apparently, what I said was enough to wake him up, because his eyes shot open and fell on me.

"Pikachu!" he shouted with glee and flung his once unmoving arms around me and embraced me.

The hug surprised me, but I gladly returned it. I was so happy that he was awake and still had hope. We both still had hope, and that I what will lead us out of this mess.

We stayed in our embrace for awhile, for neither of us wanted it to end, but it had to when Kyki cleared his throat to get our attention. Matt and I let go of each other and gave our attention to Kyki.

"Who are you?" asked Matt, then started looking around himself and noticed that he was at a different place. "Where am I?"

That's right. Matt hasn't been awake through this whole thing! He must be completely lost.

"I am Kyki," introduced Kyki. "I am 3rd-in-command for the Freedom Fighters."

"The Freedom Fighters?" wondered Matt. "So they do exist!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Kyki.

Matt sat up and looked around the room some more.

"Well, I've only heard rumors about you. They say that anyone can join, the only problem is that you have to find them. Half of us hardly believe that the Freedom Fighters even exist," said Matt.

As Matt kept looking around, his eyes soon landed on Jury. His eyes stopped on her, didn't move, didn't blink, didn't even tear up from not blinking.

Then, I saw his face turn slightly red and he became all sweaty.

"Um . . . hello," he said as he continued to look at Jury, who was still sitting next to him.

"Hi. My name is Jury Neso, I am the medical officer here. I treated your wound," she said and smiled.

"Y-you . . . treated me?" said Matt.

His hands were starting to sweat and shake like crazy. This never happened when I was with him. Why is he acting so weird all of a sudden?

"Um, hm!" said Jury with another smile. That just made Matt even more red and sweaty.

"Um . . .thanks . . .m-m-my name's Ma— . . . man, is it hot in here?" he asked, obviously trying to cover up his stuttering.

I lifted my hands into the air to feel the heat, but there was none. It wasn't hot at all, and yet Matt was sweating like crazy.

Somehow, this all sound familiar.

After hearing Matt say that it was hot even though it wasn't, Jury leaned over and put her hand on his head.

"It feels fine to all of us. Maybe you're just used to the surface temperature instead of down here. It is a little bit more humid than from up there, isn't it, Kyki?" she asked.

Kyki just shrugged, he didn't know.

With Jury's hand on his head, Matt's face started to redden even more and his hands couldn't stop shaking. Jury also saw this and took her hand off of his head and grabbed both of his hands with both of her hands.

"Wow, you are shaking all over. Are you feeling dizzy or nauseated?" she asked.

Matt looked down at his hands (which were still in Jury's hands) and looked up at Jury.

And that's when I saw it. No wonder why it all sounded familiar before. I giggled a little at realizing what Matt was having.

Matt pulled his hands out of Jury's and turned away from her.

"I-I'm f-fine," he said quickly.

Jury seemed to look offended . . . or maybe she was worried about Matt's reaction. It's hard to tell what humans are thinking. I'm still so used to seeing only Pokemon.

Kyki cleared his throat again to get Matt's attention. Matt, after remembering that it wasn't only him and Jury in the room, turned to face Kyki.

"Now, while you where unconscious, we had another battle with the RAM right outside this very room," said Kyki.

Matt looked shocked.

"If it wasn't for this little guy, Pikachu, here, you and I wouldn't be here right now. Because of that, we are in his debt. We are willing to do anything for you and him, just name whatever it is that you would need and we can supply it," finished Kyki.

Matt looked at Kyki's face, as if checking that he wasn't joking. After seeing the seriousness in his face, he took it for the truth and pondered what we would need.

He thought and thought, then looked at me.

"I think that we need to go back to were you picked us up at," said Matt.

Alright, Matt! You're the . . . human!

Kyki nodded his head.

"Yes, he was able to tell us that. Would you like anything else when you're at the surface?" asked Kyki.

Matt hesitated.

Come on, Matt. We need a car. Put the pieces together and think about what we need. Your life is at stake!

Matt looked at me again, as if trying to read my mind through my eyes. Then, he looked back up at Kyki.

"We need . . . a gun, to protect ourselves from another attack," said Matt.

I guess that would help, but say car! Please!

"We can give you one. Is that all?" asked Kyki.

Matt hesitated again.

"Have you fed Pikachu, yet?" asked Matt.

"Yes, we fed him yesterday and this morning. We can feed both of you before you go if you want," said Kyki.

"Okay, good."

No, no! Not good!

"Matt!" I said.

Everyone's eyes fell on me.

Please! Let them know what I'm trying to say.

"Matt, we need a car so we can make it before you die!"

"I think that he's trying to tell me something," said Matt.

No freaking duh!

Then, I had an idea. I got up in front of them, put both of my arms in front of me, and grabbed an imaginary circle, just like the one that Matt used when he was controlling the car.

"What is he doing?" asked Kyki.

"Looks like he's trying to play charades or something," said Jury.

"I think he's trying to tell us what he wants," said Matt.

I turned the imaginary circle that I was grabbing, just like how I saw Matt do when we were in the car.

"Ya know, it looks like he's driving a —"

"Car! That's it! That's what he wants!" said Matt.

I put my arms down and nodded my head excitedly. Finally, I think I might have found a way to communicate with these humans.

"A car?" asked Kyki, while scratching his chin. "We can give you one, but I'm not sure why you would need it, especially when you're going to —"

His words were stopped when Jury quickly slapped her hand over his mouth. I knew what he was going to say, but maybe it was better if Matt didn't know.

"Don't listen to him," said Jury with a smile, still forcing her hand over Kyki's mouth. "We'll give you a car in no time!"

Matt tried to smile back, but ended up in blushing when he saw Jury's face.

* * *

"Is that a . . .?" started Matt.

Kyki smiled and nodded.

"Yep, this is a Atom Transporting Unit, also known as ATU," he said. "One of two in the world."

Matt took a step closer to the machine, to examine it better, I guess. It was very tall, maybe a little taller than Kyki, was in a cylinder shape with a metal top and bottom, the middle of it was made out of some sort of transparent material, and it looked hollow on the inside.

Matt looked towards the top of it, then looked down at the bottom. He took another step forward, but stopped immediately when his wound acted up again. He clutched his side where his wound was, as if the only way to stop the pain was to grab it.

I ran over to his side to help out in any way, but when he saw me, he refused all help and said that he was fine.

"Are you sure?" asked Kyki. "You look like you're having trouble standing."

"Nah, I'm fine, really," replied Matt. "So, you said that this was one of the two made in the world? Where's the other one, then?"

"Guess," said Kyki.

Matt looked away, pondering. I'm still not sure what this thing is, but apparently it is very important and powerful, otherwise there wouldn't be only two in the world and these humans wouldn't be talking about it like it is powerful.

"Is it . . . where I think it is?" asked Matt.

Kyki nodded his head.

"Yep, right at the RAM's HQ. Right in the belly of the beast," said Kyki.

Matt looked shocked.

"So, does it really teleport you wherever you want to go?" asked Matt.

"Sort of," said Kyki. "You have to have a spot marked before you can teleport there with the ATU. Whenever we return to the surface, we mark the spot so that we wouldn't have to dig back up there."

"Which means that when you found us . . ."

Kyki nodded again.

"We marked that spot for the ATU, and that is how you're going back up there."

Matt made a amazed look, then turned to the ATU.

Teleport wherever we want to go? I've heard of "teleporting", but it's said that only the Psychic Tribe could do it. In fact, the one that I respected, a very noble and wise Alakazam, told me himself that it was possible for them to do it.

But, that is a powerful Pokemon doing that, here these humans have technology beyond my imagination. Could they actually be able to make such a device to teleport anyone to wherever they wish, just as long as it's "marked"?

The intelligence of these humans is scary. What else are they able to create?

I have seen how destructive their machines can be, but could that just be the tip of the iceberg?

Then, I remembered the surface, how everything was destroyed and ruined.

How there was no life.

No flowers.

No grass.

No rivers of water flowing beside my feet.

No light.

No hope.

These humans . . . their power and intelligence . . . their machines of death and destruction . . . Should I really be siding with them?

What if they turned on me? The memory of that one human in the crowd on the day when Kyki introduced me to all of the Freedom Fighters.

He didn't like me at all. He probably hated me and didn't want anything to do with me.

But, it was just one human.

_Maybe, but one will convince two others, and then those two will convince two others each, and then those four will convince two others each. It will continue to grow until everyone is convinced and against you._

I looked up at Kyki. What would happen if he turned against me? Would he kill me? Torture me?

Then, I remembered our leader, how he hated the humans for what they did to him. Could these be the same thoughts that came to him when he found out what the humans did to him? Could that be the reason why he killed all of the humans that gave him his body that he bares now, everyday?

_Maybe, but there are humans that you have met that wouldn't turn on you._

I looked over to Matt. He wouldn't kill me. If he wanted to, he would have already, and the same goes for Kyki and Jury.

I shouldn't have to worry about such stupid things, these humans are my friends and would give their lives for me.

Besides, if the stories are true, then our leader is half human, so wouldn't he be just as smart as them, if not smarter?

Matt looked back from the ATU and at Kyki.

"Wait, it looks like it can only fit one person, what about our car?" asked Matt.

Kyki smiled again.

"You don't have to worry about that."

He walked up to the ATU, kneeled down to the bottom metal part of it, then pressed a button. Right when his finger left the button, the ATU started expanding and widening. Soon, it was about the same size of a car.

Kyki smiled at mine and Matt's surprised expressions, then pressed another button. The ATU started shrinking back to its original size and stopped.

"When you two get teleported back to the surface," said Kyki while getting back up to his feet. "We'll send a car up after you, but make sure that you have moved far away from the spot you teleported to. If you don't, then when we send in the car, it just might land right on top of you, probably killing you, and none of us want that."

Matt nodded his head and so did I. Kyki nodded to both of us, then reached his hand to the top metal part of the ATU and pressed another button.

The inside the ATU, the hollowness was filled with a bright, glowing, blue light.

"Alright, are you ready?" asked Kyki.

Matt shook his head.

"You still haven't given me a gun yet," said Matt.

"Ah! Almost forgot about that, sorry," said Kyki, hitting his head to show his bad memory.

Kyki stepped back from the ATU. Then, he placed his thumb and finger in his mouth. Suddenly, a loud whistle came out of his mouth and pierced the air.

Only moments later, a human came running over to Kyki, holding a gun. He ran to his front, stopped, brought one hand to his head, then gave the gun to Kyki. Kyki thanked the human, who ran back the way he came, then turned to Matt.

"Here you are, Matt," said Kyki and handed him the gun.

The gun was the same kind as all the others that I've seen, but this one had some sort of think cloth coming from one end to the other.

"Hey! It's got a strap," said Matt as he inspected it.

Matt took the think cloth of the gun, and placed it over his shoulder, slinging the gun around his back.

"No bad," said Kyki when Matt put on the gun. "But, you might need this too."

Kyki bent down to the ground and picked up a long stick. I never noticed the stick before, but then again, I kept my attention above the ground.

Kyki handed the stick over to Matt, who took it, inpecting it as if it was about to explode in his hands.

"What is this?" asked Matt. "Is it a secret laser beam, or a tracking device, or a timer bomb?"

"Uh, no," said Kyki. "It's just a stick."

Matt looked down at the stick, disappointed. Apparently, he wanted another cool weapon.

"Hey, I'm sorry that it's not a top secret "James Bond" device. I just thought that since you've been having trouble walking, that stick could be a good walking stick," said Kyki.

Matt still looked disappointed, but placed the end of the stick on the ground and held the other end with his hand.

"Thanks . . . um . . . what did you say your name was again?" asked Matt.

"Kyki, and it's not a problem. You just go out there and be safe wherever you go, and good luck with everything," said Kyki.

Matt smiled and nodded, the turned to the glowing ATU.

"I'm ready now."

Kyki nodded, then slid open the front part of the transparent cylinder. Matt walked (while using the walking stick to help him) into the ATU.

When he was all the way inside the ATU, Kyki closed it and pressed another button from the top metal part. Matt started glowing blue, then a bright flash blinded me, and when I could see again, Matt was gone.

Kyki slid open the ATU again, then turned to me.

"Are you ready, Pikachu?" he asked.

I looked at the ATU, hesitating.

What if something bad happens when I teleport? These humans are used to teleporting other humans, not Pokemon. What if I teleport next to Matt, but all deformed and not able to protect him or to even think straight about my destination?

What if I will never remember home?

"_Remember, young one. Whenever you have doubts about anything, just remember to keep moving forward and continue to have hope, for without hope, you cannot do anything."_

My teacher's words echoed in my head.

Just keep moving forward.

"No pain," said Kyki.

I looked up to him. No pain? What is that supposed to mean? Is this how humans encourage each other?

I stopped thinking about it and walked into the ATU. Kyki closed it closed and pressed the button.

My whole body started feeling very light and weightless, and I saw my hands glowing. Then, another blinding light flashed, and that's all I can remember.

* * *

I was back home. I was laying my back on the soft grass and the sweet smell of flowers filled the air.

"Pikachu."

A female Pikachu was right next to me, looking down at me curiously. She looked at me as if I was just a new playmate.

She leaned down towards my face.

Her face and eyes were so close to me that I could see every detail on her. She was very attractive and beautiful. She had perfect, amber eyes, she had clean, soft, yellow fur, even her breath smelled perfect.

"Pikachu," she said.

She leaned even closer to me, making me a little nervous from being so close to a girl, then licked my nose playfully.

I started blushing like crazy after that. I have never had such a cute girl do something like that to me, and I'm not every experienced with the female ones. My paws started sweating and my face felt so hot that I thought my yellow fur was going to turn red.

She must have seen my expression, for she just started giggling and laid right next to me in the grass.

"Pikachu!" she said playfully.

She scooted even closer to me and embraced me tightly. She even started snuggling with me, nudging her nose to my cheek.

I wanted to move, wanted to get up and tell this girl to stop it and give me some personal space, but it was like my body wouldn't let me. I just couldn't move my arms, my mouth, my legs, nothing would move.

Maybe I could move, but I just didn't want to.

For some reason . . . I liked this.

I wanted . . . affection . . .

I wanted . . . more . . .

The female Pikachu snuggled more with me and started tickling my ear. Then, she leaned her head over to my ear and licked it.

I half of me wanted this to stop, but the other half wanted her to keep this up.

"Pikachu!!" she said, almost screaming it into my ear.

Wait, that doesn't sound like a female Pikachu voice. It didn't even sound like a Pikachu.

"PIKACHU! Get the hell up!"

* * *

My eyes flung open. My mind was going everywhere, though. I could see things, but my mind was having a hard time understanding what exactly was going on.

Matt was above me. I could hear shouting and loud BANGs all around me.

"Come on, Pikachu! Wake up! We're being attacked again!" said Matt.

Then, my mind clicked back on and I was able to understand. Matt was holding me and carried me inside an old ruined building. We were being shot at by (obviously) RAM.

How and why the Ram are here, I didn't know.

I sat up and jumped off of Matt's arms, surprising him.

"P-Pikachu! You're finally awake!" said Matt.

I ran over to the side of the ruined building. It had no top and the walls where broken down to were it barely covered me.

I looked over the front. There were four RAM, each trying their best to shoot at us from a long range.

Matt staggered up next to me and hid behind the small wall. I looked over to him. On his back was his gun that he got from Kyki. I quickly got his attention and pointed at the gun.

He nodded his head, remembering that he had it, the brought the gun level with his eye.

He took one shot at one of the RAM. The RAM fell down, dropping his gun and grabbing his now bleeding arm.

"Got him!" said Matt, excitedly.

But his victory wasn't celebrated long, for the other three RAM continued to shoot at us and got their bullets close enough to almost go straight through our heads if we hadn't ducked down.

Matt pressed his back against the wall, breathing hard while I covered my head with my two paws.

Soon, the shooting stopped, but I could still hear the RAM shouting orders at each other. Matt took this advantage and got back up over the wall and started shooting at the RAM.

I looked over the wall and saw his hail of bullets stream towards one RAM. The bullets landed on both the RAM's legs, forcing him to the ground.

I jumped up to the top of the ruined wall and released a bolt of thunder towards the two fallen RAM. Each hit its mark and knocked them out.

I liked this method better. We aren't killing anyone, but still being able to win.

"They're out of bullets!" shouted Matt over his own gunfire.

Out of bullets? That could explain why they're not shooting at us at the moment.

I looked at the last two RAM. They were both reaching into their pockets, probably searching for more bullets to shoot.

As Matt's own stream of bullets came hailing over to them, the two RAM started running towards a large piece of metal sticking out of the ground for cover. The RAM dived behind the metal as Matt's bullets kept shooting at it.

Matt kept shooting at the metal, even though it wasn't going through.

"Now, Pikachu! Use your electricity again while I keep them in the one spot!" shouted Matt.

I nodded my head and got my body ready for another attack. However, right when I was about to release my electricity, the RAM popped out and started shooting at us, forcing us to take cover.

"You know," started Matt as he pushed his back to the wall. "I was just starting to wonder when the —"

Just then, a blinding light flashed from behind the wall, and I heard a heavy THUD. Then, the bullets stopped shooting at us.

Me and Matt looked at each other, as if one of us would tell the other what had just happened. Then, we looked over the wall.

There, a car that wasn't there before, was right where to two RAM where. I'm guessing that the car teleported right on top of the two RAM and probably killed them.

Matt slipped his gun back to his back and looked back down at me.

"Well, that's one way to win. I guess that is the ultimate 'surprise' attack!" That made him laugh a little, but soon stopped when he saw that I didn't get the joke.

Matt looked away and cleared his throat.

"Anyway, it looks like we got our car, so lets get back in it."

He got to his feet, then jumped over the wall, but stubbled down and started groaning from the pain of doing so. I quickly got to him and tried to help him back up. He laid his hand on my head and used my body to push himself back up.

"Ouch. I keep forgetting that I'm weaker than before," he said.

Then, he screamed in pain and clutched his leg, not his side. I quickly ran over to where he was clutching to see what was wrong.

And I did see it.

His clothes covering his leg was soaked with wet blood. I pushed his hand away, and he let me. There was a hole in his leg, a large, red, wet hole.

Matt looked down at his new wound.

"Well what do you know?" he said, surprised. "I must have gotten that when I was carrying you over here."

He tried to comfort me by smiling, but the pain of moving made it difficult for him.

Looks like I have to do everything all over again.

I looked up to the sky. It was getting dark, already the sun was half-way down.

I sighed.

The first time I don't have a nightmare, and I wake up to this.


	7. Day Seven

War of Hope Day 7

I dreamed of that girl again that night. I don't know why I have these dreams of her or how my mind is even thinking of such perverseness.

It's not like me to think so much about the other gender. I mean, I would see others around me get mates and fall in love, but I never really put any of it into consideration. I always thought that having a girl would just be one more thing to worry about.

If I could control my dreams, I would've made them go back to the nightmares. I would rather focus on not dying than kissing some random female in La-La Land.

After having That dream, I woke myself up in an attempt to clear my head. The sun was finally coming out of the ground over the horizon, telling me that the day had began.

I looked over to my side. There was Matt, still asleep and still with a red leg. Before we went to sleep last night, I had to clean his new wound with my electricity. He didn't like it, and neither did I, but I had to do it if I want him to stay alive a little longer.

I looked away and back over the horizon. The black barren land was the only thing to greet me in this morning.

After seeing so much broken metal and tar and . . . well, junk, I started to miss seeing green. I started missing the feeling of having grass between your toes and having a tree to provide shade, instead of some old, ruined, rusty, human-made building.

I started missing the sound of rushing water, even the feeling of fresh water between your lips and hands. The relaxing feeling you get when you sit in a nice pool of warm water to bathe in.

How long has it been since I've felt any of those things? Five days? Six days? A week? Have I really only been gone for a week?

Wow. After realizing it, I started to remember what has happened so far.

So many things. It feels like I've been away from home for years, even decades.

And yet, it's only been a week. But, a week is a long time to stay so far away from home and so close to your enemies.

I turned my head back over to Matt. _Very close to your enemies._

I quickly turned my head away and started shaking it, trying to get the idea out. No! Matt is not my enemy! Just yesterday, he probably saved my life from those RAM that were right where we teleported.

I laid my head back on the ruined building we slept on. So many things are going through my mind that I couldn't even keep track of them. So many things to worry about for such a young Pokemon.

Suddenly, Matt started stirring in his sleep. I saw him trying to extend his hurt leg, but flinch and woke with a start from the pain of doing so.

"Ah!" he yelled, gripping his leg. However, even from doing that, I could see that his side wound hurt and that made him yell again in pain.

He quickly leaned back against the ruined building, trying to ignore the pain he felt whenever he did almost anything.

He opened his eyes and turned his head towards me.

"Well . . . that's one way to wake up," he said with a smile.

He flinched again from some more pain from simply smiling.

This isn't good. His wounds aren't healing at all for some reason, they just keep getting worse.

Is this my fault? Could it be because of my method of cleaning a wound without water that is making Matt have so much suffering?

I remembered what that female human said back at the Freedom Fighters hiding spot. She said that I did clean the wound, but everywhere around the wound was infected.

Because of me?

Even if it was because of me, I still have a chance of saving Matt. The boat shouldn't be too far, and this car should be able to get up there in no time.

I walked over to Matt and tried to give him my own smile. He looked up at me and forced out a smile which, thank goodness, didn't hurt him.

"You ready to go?" he asked me.

I nodded my head.

"Which way do we go?" he asked.

I pointed my finger over to were the shore was. I couldn't see it, but I knew that it was that way.

Matt followed my finger and nodded his head.

"Then that's where we'll go."

He turned his head to the side and saw his walking stick Kyki gave him. He reached over to it, grabbed it, and used it to pull himself up to his feet.

"Now I feel like one of those disabled kids," he said to himself.

I helped lead him back over to the car, which was right where we left it.

As we got closer to the car, I could see blood stains on the ground right below it, probably from the RAM from last night.

I shivered.

Matt climbed into the car while I walked over to the other side and climbed in. Matt grabbed the circular object that stuck out towards him with one hand and used the other to put up his stick. Then, he reached his hand over to the side of the circular thing, as if getting ready to turn on the car. However, he felt around there and didn't find anything and frowned.

"There's no keys," he said.

I gave him a confused face to show him that I had no idea what he was talking about.

"I need the keys to turn on the car," he explained.

I still didn't understand what these "keys" are, but I looked around the car none-the-less.

I looked around where I sat, below where I sat, behind where I sat, and then in front of where I sat, but when I looked in front, I saw a piece of the car not connected to the rest of the car. The material below it seemed to move away, as if to make room for someone to place their paw under it.

I did just that, out of curiosity, and pulled the thing towards me.

Suddenly, whatever I had just pulled opened a small opening inside the car. I jumped back and got in my stance, getting ready for anything to happen.

Matt looked over to the thing that opened.

"Hey! You found the keys!" he said.

I did? I looked in the opening. There inside, was a small, shinny, metal object.

Matt reached over and grabbed what I'm guessing where the "keys".

"They were in the glove compartment all along," he said as he took them out. "Hey, there's a note too."

He reached his hand even deeper into the opening and pulled out some a thin, white, sheet of some sort.

"'Dear friends, here are the keys to start the car. I must first warn you that the RAM tend to recheck all of the areas that they have battled in before, so keep your eyes open for them to appear anywhere.' . . . Well," said Matt after he read the sheet. "Kinda late for that, huh?"

I nodded my head while remembering the blood stains beneath the car.

Matt continued reading the "note".

"'Also, Matt, your gun only has so much ammo in it, so try to keep track of how many times you use it. It can heat up as well, so don't use it for a long period of time. As for you, Pikachu, I left a gift for you in the glove compartment.'"

Matt stopped reading as I reached in the opening that was apparently called the "glove compartment" and pulled out that only thing that I felt at the very back of the compartment. I pulled out something even smaller than the note, slightly thicker, and shaped in a rectangle. On the front of it was a picture of a male human with some human writing around it, along with a lot of black lines that where close to each other, only differing in thickness that was barely noticeable.

Matt continued reading.

"'I found this on one of the RAM soldiers. It seems to be one of their ID's or something. I have a feeling that it will come in handy for you sometime in the future.'"

Matt bent down to look at the "ID" of a deceased RAM, then continued reading the note.

"'I hope that you two have a safe trip ahead of you. Remember to stay hidden, never attack first, and always have faith and hope. From your loving friend, Kyki.

"P.S. The Freedom Fighters are still in your debt, Pikachu. Just give us a call and we will help out in any way possible.'"

Matt looked on the back of the note, as if checking if there were any more to read. There was none, so he folded up the note and placed it back in the glove compartment.

"Well, that was nice of him," said Matt while putting the keys in their place.

He turned the keys.

Suddenly, the car jumped to life and started vibrating underneath my feet.

"You might want to sit down, Pikachu," said Matt. "I've always wanted to go fast." He smiled as I sat down.

Then, the car leaped forward and sped down the path to our destination with amazing speed.

* * *

Once again, human technology has amazed me. I know I said this before, but the speed and distance we are going in this car without stopping amazes me!

Not to brag, but I can run pretty fast for a long time, but this car just keeps on going and going at the same speed for forever!

I lifted my head up to feel the rushing wind against my face and fur. Ah . . . it might not be grass between my toes, but this feels good enough after what I've been through.

Matt looked over at me and laughed. His hair was waving in the air as well, but his full attention was on controlling the car.

The sun was now right above us, in the middle of the gray sky. Already, we are probably almost there in such little time then when it would've taken days to walk.

I looked ahead, towards where we were going.

That's when I saw it and couldn't have been any more happier.

The shore! Finally, I was actually able to take this barely living human all the way over to the shore!

I turned my head over to face Matt. I was confused as I saw his face.

It was filled with shock and fear as he looked at the shore filled with water.

He slowly turned his face to look at mine.

His look terrified me. His face told me that he was walking towards his death . . . and that it was my fault.

"P-Pikachu . . ." He turned his head back to face forward again. "Why did you take me here?"

I didn't hide my confused face. Why would a human be so terrified of water? Or is it the shore that he is scared of?

He saw my face and knew my question.

"You s-see, Pikachu," he started while still controlling the car closer to the shore. "Us, humans, have never been to the beach for a long time. The RAM government tells everyone about horrid things that happen here and that no one is allowed to be too close to it."

He swallowed.

"They spoke of . . . terrible things that happen only near the water. Some people don't believe them, but no one dared to test the theory. That's why me and my mom were there when we met. I knew that no one would come so close to the shore, but I would've never dared to get this close."

The shore was growing bigger as we came closer to it.

"The penalty of being found so close to this place is . . . death. That is, if you're not already dead. So, even the people that might have gone here and seen everything, they ended up dead before they could tell the tell."

He turned his head over to face me, but didn't stop the car.

"Are you sure that this is where you want me to go?" he asked with fear covering his face.

I slowly nodded my head.

The RAM told all of the humans to stay away from the shore? Maybe even spreading fairy tails of torture to anyone that comes close? That could explain why I never saw any humans when I walked inland on my first days.

But why would the RAM want everyone away from the shore? And could they possibly be telling the truth in what lies at shore?

But of course they're lying. I didn't see anything while I walked over here. Nothing happened and no one was around. Maybe the RAM were just trying to scare away all of the humans from trying to escape.

But, even so, if humans aren't any different than us, Pokemon, than there had to have been at least one that got curious and walked over here. If a human did do that, how would the RAM react? Or would they react at all? What would the human do when he or she got to the water? Did humans have boats as well?

Matt turned his head back to our path, but his face didn't change.

After a while longer, we finally made it to shore and stopped. Matt turned off the car and grabbed his gun along with his walking stick.

I jumped out of the car as Matt got out. Ironically, despite all of my bad luck lately, my boat was right in front of where we stopped the car. It was a small, wooden, boat with one sail and one rudder at the end. Half of it was inland and tied up (the "rope" was the net that came with the boat when I . . . borrowed it) to a small stick that I planted into the ground so that it wouldn't float away.

I ran over to the boat, filled with joy and happiness that we finally made it, and quickly cut the net-made-rope and pushed the boat out to the water until it was completely off the ground.

I hopped in the boat and motioned Matt to follow, but he still looked scared and confused about everything.

He took baby steps towards the boat, with his stick in one hand and his gun in the other. He took no heist on getting in the boat and sitting next to me.

The boat creaked as the human sat down. It seems that it wasn't quite used to having such a large being sitting down on it. Matt squirmed to try to get comfortable in the small boat. Maybe I forgot about how small this boat really was.

Eventually, Matt stopped squirming and sat still. I got up and got the sail ready to set us off. I could feel a small breeze coming on. It might be enough to head us off, but as soon as we reach sea, there should be a much larger wind blowing that will shoot us straight towards my island.

After I got the sail all prepared, I looked up at the sun. It wasn't quite in its setting position, but it was enough for me to find out which way to go.

I walked over to the rudder and turned it slightly towards our direction. The boat eased forward as the breeze pushed us.

"I'm coming, Mother," I said to myself.

* * *

After being out at sea for awhile, Matt started liking it and looked a whole lot calmer. He even laid his hand out to the water and felt the cold rushing streams between his fingers. I copied him and placed my own paw in the cool water.

But then, Matt's face suddenly twisted and no longer looked calm. It didn't look scared . . . but it didn't look happy either.

Matt immediately threw his head to the side of the boat and threw up in the water.

Ah . . . so he gets sea sick. Great . . .

When Matt was done throwing up, he lifted his head back up and forced out a smile.

"I've heard about the sea, but I've never seen it. It's so beautiful!" he said as he looked down the horizon. "But, I never knew that—"

Matt quickly place his hand over his mouth, then turned to the side of the boat and threw up again.

I turned away and looked out to the sea. Indeed, it was beautiful, especially when it feels like it's been forever since I've seen it.

After a little longer of sailing, Matt started talking about whatever came to his mind. He must be getting bored and needed someone to talk to.

I wished with all of my heart that I could talk back to him, but I knew that was impossible, so I just simply nodded my head whenever I understood something or gave him a confused face.

He spoke about the places he went to when he was younger, like this place called "school" and a place call "job". He told me about some of the rituals the humans do, like a "party" and "wedding". Apparently, whenever a male human falls in love with a female human, they are supposed to "marry" and have this ceremony called "wedding".

There were other ones that I couldn't understand very well, like one ritual called "Christmas" and "Thanksgiving" and "Easter". For some reason, a bunch of humans come together and give each other gifts of all sorts and await this one human called "Claws".

Matt also talked about his family that he once had. He told me that he once had a brother, a sister, and a father.

He told me his horrid story of his life of what happened to him.

"One day," he told me. "The RAM made another new law. This law ordered everyone to house a RAM soldier in their own house whenever one asked, no questions. Soon, one soldier came and told us he needed a place to stay.

"Well, we let him in, both because we didn't have a choice and because he looked tired. We fed him, gave him a bed, gave him clothes, even gave him some our last bit of medical equipment. We made it like he lived with us, like he was already a small part of the family. But for him, it wasn't enough. Eventually, he kept ordering us to do things just for his own liking, like give him a bath, spoon feed him, rub his feet, care for his wounds, do extra chores that came to his mind, and even made us let him give my sister a bath."

He took a deep breath. It looked like he trying to hold back some tears.

"He had such a strong lust with my sister, and she was so young at the time. One night, he ordered everyone to leave him alone in a room with only my sister in it. We knew what he was thinking of doing, we could see it in his eyes, so we tried to stop him and refused to leave her alone with him.

"He kept ordering and ordering us to do it, but we kept refusing. That made him mad, so he shot my dad and killed him, just to show us that he would do it to everyone else."

I saw a small trail of a tear slide down Matt's cheek.

"We had no choice, and neither did my sister. He took her away by force, with my father's dead body still laying on the ground before us. He dragged her into his room and locked the door before we could get in. We could hear sounds coming out of the room: Screams, shouts, and evil laughter, but there was nothing we could do."

Now, I could see both of his eyes filling up with tears. Such memories . . . such sadness.

"Me, my mother, and my brother stayed there in front of that door, laying next to my father's dead body, trying to see if there was a chance for him to live. We stayed there and listened to the horrid thing that RAM was doing to my sister . . . My little sister. When he was finally done, he came out of the room and announced that my sister bored him because she fought him off so much. Now, me and my brother where angered and we jumped on that RAM. I didn't want anyone to just walk away after doing such a terrible thing to my sister and so I put all of my anger in my fists. He tried to fight us off, but we kept throwing punch after punch on him."

Matt held up his own fists and started punching the air as if replaying the memory.

"But, he still had his gun. He was able to reach it and shot my brother quare on the shoulder and in his chest. My brother fell down to the ground and I was forced to let go of the RAM to help my brother. The RAM ran out the door as soon as I let go. He somehow got a fire and used it to start burning down our house while we were still inside. Me and my mother were able to free my now naked sister and grab my half dead brother and got them out of the house safely. My father's dead body was still inside when the house burned down to the ground."

Matt put his hands down and started crying again.

"After that . . . we found a hospital and put my brother in it, but they couldn't do anything. He died while the doctors tried to save him."

Matt lowered his head and started sobbing. He didn't hold anything back, he just let everything out all at once. I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't know what comforts humans or what might anger them, so I stood there as he continued his story.

"Soon after, we found out that the RAM soldier made my sister pregnant. When she found out this, she freaked out and couldn't except the fact. She was just too scared of becoming a mother at such a young age. At times, she wanted to get an abortion, but even if we wanted to do that, we didn't have the money."

Matt started sobbing even harder.

"E-eight months later, she died while trying to give birth. She just gave up in trying to live. Her baby also died while trying to be born."

He brought up his arm and whipped his tears over his clothes.

"She was only thirteen years old!" He breathed. "Only thirteen . . . and she left me."

And now, his mother was dead . . . because of me. He truly had no one . . . no family left.

How horrible it must be to carry such a weight on ones shoulders! How could he live with himself with these memories always haunting him?

Then, I remembered all the times he smiled, all the time he laughed, all the times he helped cheer me up. How could he do all of that with these thoughts in his head?

Matt was still sobbing, now having his life story finished.

I couldn't help it. I went over to Matt and gave him a tight hug, a hug of encouragement and calming. It was the only thing I could think of could express my sorrow for him.

He stopped for a moment, shocked at me, but then returned the hug gracefully.

After a long time of that embrace, Matt was able to calm himself down and stopped crying. I let go of him and gave him a small pat. He smiled threw his tears, then nodded.

He took a deep breath, then exhaled.

I smiled, then turned around to know where to turn the rudder. I saw a large land mass sticking out of the water. It wasn't really a island, it looked more like a mountain of some sort.

I went over to the rudder and turned it so we could just go around this land mass. The boat creaked, but wouldn't move the direction that I turned it to go.

That's odd. I looked down at the water. It seemed to be rushing towards this land mass for some reason.

I turned my head back up to face the land mass. Now that we were closer, I noticed that it was not black, brown, or even green, but blue, and not just blue, but a silvery kind of blue, just like what you see on a . . .

Oh, no.

The "land mass" moved upward and extended its long body while opening its mouth wide. Its long neck reached all the way to touch the sky.

This land mass wasn't land at all, it was a Gyarados!

But, what would a Gyarados be doing way out here?

Then, it hit me. Sometimes, under certain circumstances, when a Gyarados is close to its death, it will come out into the middle of the sea and release all of its uncontrollable and unpredictable anger and energy to whatever passes it by.

And it just had to be us. Why can't I have at least one day where nothing happens?

The water started picking up speed towards the Gyarados and a storm seemed to be picking up as well right above the gigantic water creature.

Matt saw it and stared with an open mouth. If he was amazed at seeing me, I wonder what was going on in his head right now.

The Gyarados turned its enormous head around and faced us. Then, it screeched out a loud, powerful, ear splitting, noise. I had to cover my own ears to try to keep them from popping. Matt ducked down and covered his ears as well.

After the Gyarados was finished screeching, it opened its mouth even wider. I could see a small orange light forming in its mouth, slowly growing and forming a sphere.

I quickly got to the sail and turned it. The boat stirred and moved to the side.

The Gyarados's mouth was now filled with the orange light and shot it out towards us. The orange beam flew threw the air and slammed onto the water right next to our boat. If I hadn't moved the sail, we probably would be dead right now.

But the beam didn't stop, it kept flowing out of the Gyarados's mouth. It slowly moved towards us, still hitting the water beneath it.

I moved over to the rudder and turned it with all of my might and held it there. The boat turned sharply towards the giant Gyarados while the beam continued following us. Matt just sat watching me. I wanted to shout at him to do something, but then I remembered that he wouldn't understand anything anyways.

The beam of orange light disappeared behind us. I turned to see if it was gone, then turned back to face the Gyarados. We were heading straight for him, and neither the water nor the wind were helping us escape.

Then, the water started spinning around the Gyarados. The sky was completely filled with black, stormy clouds, and then it started to rain.

The water kept spinning around the Gyarados, this time faster. Then faster, and faster, and faster, and faster. It was a giant whorl pool and Gyarados was right in the middle!

This isn't good at all. A whorl pool could get completely off course and slam us into some giant rock or something out at sea. I have to stay inside of the whorl pool so that we wont spin out and slam into something, then we might have a chance to live.

I turned the rudder towards the Gyarados. The only way for either of us to live is to put this Gyarados out of its misery.

I have heard that when a Gyarados is like this, their power and size increases dramatically, their mind becomes clouded to the point were they can no longer be reasoned with, and they never stop being angry until they are dead.

There are tails of some that actually have seen a Gyarados get into this state. They say that they would watch it from sunrise all the way to sunset.

We don't have that kind of time right now.

The boat headed straight for the Gyarados. It saw us and opened its mouth again, charging up another life-threatening blast.

The mouth. If we could somehow hit the mouth before it's dome charging, it might stop the Gyarados from shooting at us again.

I released my electricity towards Gyarados's mouth. The thunder dashed away from my body and flew over to the water Pokemon, but the Pokemon easily dodged it while still charging the beam.

Darn it! I need something that is a projectile and can go faster.

I turned and faced Matt. His gun, of course!

"Matt! Shoot at its mouth!" I shouted over the rush of the water and winds.

He didn't understand me still, so I pointed at his gun.

"You! Gun! Mouth! Now!" I shouted again, now pointing at the Gyarados's mouth that was nearly filled with the orange light.

Matt looked down at his gun, then up at the Gyarados, and nodded his head. He lifted up his gun and aimed it at the mouth, then shot at it.

The Gyarados got hit with the hail of bullets and pulled back, extinguishing the orange light. I took this moment and released a blast of my thunder onto the water Pokemon.

My electricity slammed onto the Gyarados, and it shrieked in pain. I stopped my flow of electricity to cover my ears from the noise.

The Gyarados whipped around, now maddened even more, and leaped its head right at us.

I grabbed the rudder again and yanked it to the side. The boat turned and flowed with the whorl pool, making us go faster to the side.

The Gyarados slammed its head into the water that we were on just before, then quickly pulled it back out and leaped again. Luckily, because we were moving with the flow of the whorl pool and not against it, our speed let us dodge the Gyarados again.

Now, we were spinning in circles around the Gyarados.

The Gyarados leaped its head forward at us again, but missed. While it was in the water, I shot out another giant thunder out of me and onto it. The creature shrieked in pain again as my electricity continued to flow into its body.

I didn't hold anything back. I kept pushing and pushing all of my electricity out.

The Gyarados flung its body upward and screeched again. I had to stop once more to cover my ears.

Now Gyarados took this time to get us and started charging the orange beam again in its mouth. Matt picked up his gun and aimed at the mouth again, but this time the Gyarados raised up its tail from under the water, which cause a huge wave that knocked Matt over on his back and dropped the gun into the water.

I also fell on my back, but quickly got back up and released another large amount of my electricity towards the Gyarados's mouth.

The Gyarados was done charging and shot it out towards us, but instead met my electricity.

Our beams collided together, my yellow electricity trying to force back the Gyarados's orange beam of energy. I kept pushing and pushing, harder and harder, trying to force back the beam.

The orange beam did seem to slowly fall back towards Gyarados, but Gyarados poured in more energy and pushed my electricity back.

I really tired to hang on, I really did, but Gyarados's attack was just too strong for me to handle. My electricity started to weaken and slowly moved back as the orange beam grew and moved forward.

Then, the two beams exploded in the air with a giant sonic boom. The force from the explosion sent me slamming to the side of the boat. Then, I blacked out for a moment.

I don't know how long I was out, but when I was able to see again, I saw Matt standing up with both of his hands stretched out before him . . . with another one of Gyarados's orange beams pushing against his bare hands. I could see his flesh being torn away as he held his stance and continued to push back the beam.

Matt screamed in pain as he kept trying. He put his wounded leg back to get better footing, but then screamed even more as the pain from moving that leg came over him.

I just sat there, stunned at what he was actually doing.

I could see Matt's neck and arms tense up with pulsing, visible veins. His hands were starting to drip blood down his arms as he held on.

The beam kept on coming, but it somehow seemed to be backing away. Matt must've seen this too, for he pulled back one of his bleeding, red hands and curled it up in a fist.

As I watched, I saw that his fist started sparking yellow sparks.

Then . . . yellow electricity erupted out of Matt's hand and flowed all around his fist.

With one last scream of pain and agony, he slammed his electric fist against Gyarados's orange beam.

The beam shot away from us and straight back towards the Gyarados. It hit Gyarados square on mouth, flinging it backwards and back into the water.

Gyarados's body slammed down onto the water, no longer moving.

The large water Pokemon's body floated on the water for a moment or two, then slowly sunk into the sea's depths.

There was a long silence, a long dark silence. Then, Matt collapsed down to his back. My feet were finally able to move, and I went over to Matt.

His hand stopped sparking electricity, but his arms were covered in the blood from his hands and his leg's wound opened up again and was pouring out blood all over his clothes. Even his original wound on his side had opened again and was also oozing out his sacred, red, liquid life.

He has lost way too much blood, and his eyes kept rolling up.

"No, Matt! No!" I shouted. "Don't die! Please don't die on me! Not when we've got so far!"

Even if he could hear me, I knew he couldn't understand what I was saying, but I didn't care. My friend was dying, and another thundershock wasn't going to help this time. I still don't know much about the human body, and his body was already too weak to handle even the smallest shock.

_You should've left him there on the first day._

My paws curled up into fists. Shut up! I made my choice, and I'm not going to give up just yet.

_Not yet? This human is as good as dead, and you know it. Right now, the human is just dead weight on this boat._

"This human" has a name, and you know it! His name is Matt . . . and he's not dead.

_Then how do you explain that?_

Matt's eyes stopped moving. They looked up at me, but not really at me.

His breathing started to slow until it completely stopped.

"NO!" I shouted.

I got over Matt's body and put both of my paws over where his heart should be, from there, I started pressing and releasing.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 . . .

_This isn't going to work . . ._

14, 15, 16, 17 . . .

_Are you even doing it right?_

19, 20!

I went over to his mouth and blew air into it while holding his chin up. When I was out of air, I took my lips off and placed my ear on his chest.

No sound.

_Still not working . . ._

I tried again. I got my paws over his heart and started pushing up and down on it twenty times, then I lifted up his chin and blew air in his mouth again.

Still . . . nothing happened.

But something did happen. No, Matt stayed still, but the water started to move.

Suddenly, the same Gyaragos from before came out of the water, and looked down at me. It's mouth had a large gash over it.

"What?!" I shouted at it, moving away from Matt's body. "Oh? So, you want some more?! You want to try to kill me now?!"

Now, I was angry. This Gyarados killed my friend, and I wasn't going to let it get away with it.

The Gyarados screeched again, but this time, I didn't cover my ears. All I thought about was my anger towards this monster.

My electricity was released, almost unwillingly, but not at the Gyarados, at myself. My body started glowing yellow and electricity flowed through my fingers and feet. Energy overcame my mind and body, a energy that felt as powerful as the sun itself. I have never felt such power before, and I couldn't control it, but I liked it.

This new power moved through me like it had a mind of its own. My body moved without my commanding and the electricity that was moving through my body rippled and jumped into the water.

Then, my body dashed out of the boat and onto the water, but I did not sink. My body landed on the water and ran over it towards the Gyarados. I could feel my electricity pushing my body off of the water and propelling me forward.

I was actually running on water, without even trying.

As I quickly got closer to the Gyarados, my eyes were filled with electricity as well and glowed yellow with small strips rippling out.

The Gyarados saw my body coming, so it's mouth shot out a large mount of water this time. I felt my electricity lunge at the oncoming water and deflected it away while going through it and into the Gyarados. The Gyarados was hit back and was paralyzed for awhile.

My body took this moment and continued dashing towards the Gyarados's body. My body got there in only moments, but still didn't stop.

I felt my tail charge up with the same unfamiliar energy that now had control over my body.

Then, right when my body was about to collide with Gyarados's body, it flashed out of sight, then flashed back into sight on the other side of Gyarados.

Gyarados stood still, as if it didn't know what just happened.

Then, right where my body passed up when it flashed in and out of sight, Gyarados's top part of its body slid off its bottom. The middle had been cut cleanly off.

My body ran across the water again, but this time back towards the boat. As it did so, Gyarados's two body parts fell away from each other and slammed back down on the water, soon to sink back into the sea from wince it came.

When my body got back inside the boat, all of the power and the unfamiliar energy disappeared, and I was able to regain control over my body.

The sea finally quieted and the storm cleared up and disappeared.

And off in the horizon, I could see my home. My island.

The whorl pool must've actually flung us straight towards our destination.

Wait . . . "us"? . . . Matt!

I quickly went back over to Matt's unmoving body. He still wasn't breathing.

I did my procedure again: Twenty pushes on the heart, then breathe into his mouth while holding his chin up.

Still nothing.

I did it again.

18, 19, 20. Blow air.

Nothing.

19, 20. Blow more air.

No response.

13, 14 . . . 16. No!

I slammed my fist down in aggravation. I can't give up, but what can I do? Another pulse of my electricity could do more harm than good. If only if I knew more about the human body!

I looked back up. My island wasn't too far away, but the sun has almost gone completely in the earth. I have to make it before all of my light is gone!

Quickly, I got the sail ready again and turned the rudder in the right direction. From there, I placed my feet in the back of the boat and kicked as fast as I could, trying to get as much speed as possible.

Please hang on, Matt. We're almost there.

**Sorry that this took so long. My Geometry teacher must hate me because she refuses to let me pass no matter what I do, and because of that, my mom grounded me from the internet for awhile.**

**I'm really sorry again! I'll try to get the next update up and ready as soon as I can!**

**BTW, my birthday is only one more month away! YAY! **


	8. Day Eight Morning

War of Hope Day 8 (Morning)

Come on. . . come on . . . come on . . .

I continuously kicked my two feet in the water, trying to speed up the boat as much as I possibly could. It's been a long time since I've started though, and my legs felt like they were going to fall right off at any moment.

Just keep going . . . kick. . . kick. . . come on, keep kicking . . .

I looked up into they sky. The sun was already gone and the moon took its place. When I started kicking, the sun had just disappeared behind the Earth, now the moon was right in the middle of the sky, looking down at me.

I looked forward again. The island . . . my island . . . the home that I have been trying to get to, for what felt like years away, was just ahead of me.

Matt's body laid still in the boat. Every now and then, I could've sworn that I saw his chest move, but it was hard to tell if it was real or my mind playing tricks on me.

Either way, I don't have much time. I was getting tired, but I had to keep pushing myself, keep going over the limit. For if I didn't . . .

I pushed the thought out of the way and concentrated on kicking faster.

After what felt like forever of kicking and straining myself, I felt the boat hit land. I let go of the end I was holding onto and swam over to the bow. Immediately, I could feel ground.

But, there was something different about this ground. It wasn't made out of metal or rubber or trash, but earthly ground. A Natural ground.

Sand.

As much as I wanted to just fall down to my knees and kiss the natural dirt of the beach, I knew that I had to keep moving. I could see grass not too far away along with a small scatter of trees. If I go through those trees, they should lead into the main clearing. That's were the MCIP is at, if memory serves right.

I grabbed the bow of the boat and pulled it inland, with Matt's body in it. When the boat was completely inland, I went over to Matt's body and attempted to pick it up.

However, when I tried to pick up the large human body, it proved to be too much for my small body to carry.

I let go of Matt's body. I never thought this far.

What do I do? I can't pick up his body and I am way too tired to pull the boat through thick grass. I need someone else to help me, but who?

I looked around for someone, anyone, that could help, then I turned back to Matt.

If human bodies work anywhere close to a Pokémon body, then there is only a very limited amount of time for him to even possibly come back.

When a body dies, one of the first things that happen is that the heart stops. The heart is made out of many cells, but quickly start dying away when the heart stops and are irreplaceable. The cells in the brain are the same: they'll start dying away until all of them are completely gone. When all of those irreplaceable cells are gone, then it is impossible to bring the body back to life.

If humans are like that, then Matt might already be half dead. I need to find a way to stop the cells from dying and find someone that can help me carry his body.

I looked around frantically. I checked the beach, the water, anywhere.

Where is everybody?!

_Maybe deeper into the island._

I looked at the small forest. If I went there, then I would have to leave Matt's body.

_If you don't move, then he's going to die anyway._

I thought about it, but not for long, then sprinted forward.

* * *

Trees! As much as I wanted to rejoice and just stare at the huge beings, I kept running. The grass felt great on my feet, for they were so used to running over scrap metal and rubber. The air smelled so much cleaner and tasted great in my mouth as I breathed. Any other day and I would've taken all of this for granted.

I kept on running, but my sight was weakened by the darkness of the night and the shades of the trees that covered the little light that the moon gave me.

Once or twice I almost hit a small tree or root while in a mid sprint. They would slow me down, but I would avoid them and continue running.

As I ran in the darkness of the night, I could make out a small brown object laying on the ground. At first I thought that it was just a twig or a stick of some sort. I didn't have time to slow down and step over it, so I decided to jump over it to save time.

When I ran up to the brown mass, I did a small leap over it, but I guess it was a little too low. My back foot caught hold of the thing and the combination of my speed with a sudden stop lurched my body spinning straight towards the ground.

I fell down to the ground . . . hard.

I laid on the ground. My mind wanted to get back up, but my legs wouldn't move. I was just way too tired to keep going.

I slowly pushed my upper body up with my two arms, trying desperately to get back up, to keep on moving. I tried to lift my back leg, but it just fell and pulled my arms down with them.

My mind left my body as it laid there. What can I do? What could I do? There was just no time left and I haven't found anyone! Matt might be too far away to run back to in time!

Where was the luck?

Where was the happiness?

Where was the hope?

I cried there on the ground. My face was planted in the ground and I just cried.

"I . . . I can't do it!" I cried. "I just . . .can't . . ."

More tears flowed out of my eyes. Matt was going to die . . .because of me. I was just too weak to save him.

Too weak to help him . . .

Too stupid to do anything . . .

I wanted to die, myself. I wanted to lay there forever until I died, for it seemed that was the only way to stop these tears that I had.

There was just no hope. . .

"Woah, what was that?"

My ears perked up. That wasn't a human voice, and it didn't sound like the human tung that I was so used to hearing.

I turned around my body and faced whoever it was that talked.

"Oh my . . ." I started, but was unable to finish.

Some of the light from the moon shined through the tree leaves and exposed the figure that now stood before me. It had a small body, one long ear with some fur at the very end and another stuffed close to its head, a round head, two small arms, and two barely visible feet with fluffy fur covering them.

The brown object I tripped over wasn't a stick.

There, right in front of me, was a Buneary! A fellow Pokémon! One of my people!

I wanted to jump up and hug this stranger. It has been too long since I've seen another of my own kind!

I couldn't see the face of the Buneary, but I could tell by her voice that she was female.

She turned and saw me.

"What were you trying to do? Why in the world are you even running in the dark? Are you stupid or something?" asked the Buneary.

"Y-you're . . .I'm . . ." Words seemed to leave me. I was just so shocked to finally see my kind again, even though I was just searching for one of them only moments ago.

The Buneary titled her head to the side, confused.

"Are you okay? Did you hit your head or something?" she asked, worried.

She walked over to me and crouched down to her small, brown knees. From there, she used the moon's light to see my face more clearly.

"A Pikachu? What are you doing over here? What were you running from?" asked the Buneary.

The light also shined on her so I could make out her face and her eyes. She had big, pretty, dark eyes.

Finally, I was able to clear my mind and remembered what I needed to do.

"Can you create ice?" I asked her.

She tilted her head again.

"What?"

"Can you make ice? I've seen some of your tribe do it, so can you?" I asked again.

"Uh . . . yeah, I guess I can," she said, still sounding confused.

Boy, did it feel good to have someone to talk to that can understand! Finally someone that I wont have to worry about communication.

"Follow me," I said and tried to get up.

My legs were still weak. The Buneary saw this and helped me up while asking, "What?"

"Just please follow me, and quickly! I don't have much time!" I said and began jogging.

The Buneary followed me, but still acted confused.

"What? Where are we going? What do you need ice for? What is going on?!" she kept asking me.

"No time. I'll explain later," I said and started running faster.

I didn't look back over at the Buneary, but I could hear a sigh along with continuous thuds. She is following me.

I ran on all fours while she followed me by bouncing.

I kept on running. I was now fueled with a new hope that kept my feet going.

The Buneary behind me continued to follow, but was getting tired quickly and started slowing down.

"Don't slow down!" I called behind me while still sprinting. "Keep going! Please keep going!"

"Well, slow down, then!" she called back while still bouncing on her two feet. "It's midnight and I just woke up thanks to you! I'm tired!"

"Live with it!" I said.

She did a small huff.

"What is wrong with you? Did you not hear me? It is the middle of the night! This is when everyone goes to sleep! You come out of nowhere and wake me up for no reason and expect me to run this fast? If you want me to help you with whatever it is that you need help with, at lease try to be polite!" she complained. "I mean . . . my feet are killing me."

I sighed, but kept moving. I didn't have time to argue with this girl.

I ran full sprint, trying to make it back to Matt, but as I got closer to him, I started thinking, _What about the Buneary?_

She was a Pokémon like me. She has never seen a human in her life, so how would she react when she sees Matt?

_What if she has the same ideas as the leader?_ _What if she shares her hate for humans?_

What if she doesn't? What if she is just as curious about them as I am?

_Again, that's a "what if". Anything could happen._

Yes. I have learned that the hard way.

We just made it out of the small forest and onto the beach. I strained my legs to move just a little further, just to the boat.

Buneary must've seen the boat too.

"A boat? You woke me up in the middle of the night to see some boat?" she complained.

"No," I said quickly and ran over to the boat.

"Then why did you bring me here?" she asked again, hopping besides me. "Do you need me to freeze some sea weed? If that's the reason, then why don't you get someone from the Water Tribe?"

I ignored her and went up to the boat. When we got there, I moved over to Matt's still unmoving body, showing it to Buneary.

She was about to ask me another question, but soon paused when she saw what was in the boat.

She tilted her head again and moved towards Matt's body, as if it was a play item that she's never seen before.

"What kind of Pokémon is this?" she asked.

"He's not," I said.

She looked back up at me.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, he's not a Pokémon."

"Not a Pokémon?" She tilted her head again, this time to the other side. "How can he not be a Pokémon? There's nothing else besides Pokémon and plants in all of Earth. Only in those stories that the —"

She paused. Her eyes lit up as she realized what Matt was.

She looked back down at Matt, slowly, as if he was going to spring up at her at any time. She started backing away from his body.

"T-that . . .can't be . . .a . . ." she started.

"'That' has a name, and it's Matt," I said. "And he's dying. That's why I need your help."

Her head swung over to face me.

"What?! You want me to save this. . .this . . . human?!" she said, almost screaming. "No, no, no, no, no, no. I can't do that."

"Please," I begged. "He's dying! Right now, as we talk, he has a smaller and smaller chance of living! Please! I need to freeze him!"

"Freeze it? Why would I help this human, and why are you helping this human, and where did it come from?"

"His name is Matt!" I snapped. "He came from where all of the other humans are at right now. I don't have time for this! Please, just freeze him and I will find someone else to help me!"

She looked back down at Matt's body. Her eyes filled with fear. I could tell that she did not trust Matt the same way I did.

She would not leave her eyes from his unmoving body, as if when she looks away, he will pop up and grab her.

She started to back away and kept shaking her head.

"No . . .no . . .no . . .no . . .I-I can't . . .I wont . . ." she kept mumbling.

I moved away from Matt's body and sped up right to Buneary's face, getting as close to her as possible so she could see the whites of my eyes.

"Look, you can believe it or not, but this human saved my life, and all I have been able to do is give him more and more pain. In fact, the reason why he is in this position right now is because of me," I said. "I have had to go through battle after battle where the humans are, just to keep him and myself safe. You have no idea what I've seen, what I've done, what I now have to live through."

Buneary's eyes kept staring into mine, looking deeply into them. I wanted her to, I wanted to show her through my eyes what I've seen.

"Even through all of this, " I continued. "Even through life threatening encounters, he stayed by my side. He never gave up on me, he never backstabbed me, and he always protected me."

I closed my eyes. I could feel tears starting to come out and I didn't want to show it, but I was pretty sure she already saw them.

I opened my eyes again and looked at her straight in her own eyes.

"So now I ask you — no, I beg you — to help my friend from death," I got down to one knee and grabbed the fur on her legs, saying, "Please . . ."

See looked down at me, confused at what I was doing.

Then, she looked back up at Matt's body, hesitating.

I berried my head into her fur, once again begging, "Please . . ."

After what could have been just a moment but felt like forever to me, she moved away from me and started walking over to Matt's body.

"Alright, I'll do it, but under one condition," she said.

"Anything," I responded.

She stopped at the very front of the boat, then turned her head over her shoulder to look at me.

"You owe me," she said.

I nodded my head quickly. I understood and I didn't want to waste any more time.

Buneary opened her mouth. Right in front of her mouth, a blue orb appeared out of thin air and started glowing.

Buneary pointed the orb at Matt's body.

"Bun . . ."

The blue orb looked like it was about to explode.

"Eary!"

The blue orb suddenly released blue energy straight at Matt's body. When the energy touched Matt, he immediately became frozen ice.

I sighed in relief. The cells in his body were now frozen and cannot die until they are warm again, which gives me more time.

"Thank you," I said.

She turned and smiled at me.

"No problem, but now you owe me," she said, almost playfully.

That got me wondering what she wanted, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

I went over to the back of Matt's body and place my paws underneath his body.

"Buneary, I still need some help with Matt. Can you help me lift him and take him to the MCIP?" I asked.

"To the MCIP? They only do Pokémon, not humans," she said.

"I know," I sighed. "But it's the only way."

She sighed and walked over to the other side of Matt's body.

"Okay, but now you owe me two," she said.

I rolled my eyes and lifted Matt's body. Buneary grabbed his other side and lifted that part up as well.

Even with the help of Buneary, as soon as I lifted up Matt's frozen body, my arms almost collapsed with the weight. I almost dropped him, but quickly regained my grip and somehow held him up.

"You got it?" asked Buneary when she saw me grab hold again.

"Yeah," I said. "Just start moving. His cold body is starting to hurt my hands."

Me and her started moving to the side while holding Matt.

"Oh, so now you're hurting? What ever happened to 'live with it'?" asked Buneary as we moved in union.

"I am living with it," I said through gritted teeth. "I'm just saying that it hurts."

"Right . . ." she said with a grin.

* * *

After that, we held Matt's body quietly, moving slowly into and through the small forest. Eventually, I decided to rest for a little bit when we came by a flat rock.

We softly placed Matt's body on the ground and sat on the rock, grateful for the rest.

Matt's frozen body along with the night itself had chilled our bodies, so we sat back to back to keep each other warm.

It was her idea, not mine.

"So . . ." started Buneary, apparently trying to find something to break the silence. "You must be the Pikachu that everyone has been talking about, right?"

"I am?" I asked.

I laid my head back, but ended up hitting Buneary's head instead.

"Ow! Watch it," she said, turning her head, but keeping her back on mine.

"Sorry," I said, moving my head away.

Instead of repeating the whole process, I looked down at the ground, watching the grass sparkle with dew in the moonlight.

"What has happened while I was gone?" I asked.

"Well," started Buneary. "I don't know much, but most of your tribe, the Thunder Tribe, have been searching for you for days, or so I've heard. Every now and then, I would see some Jolteons come over to my tribe and ask about you. We would say that we haven't seen you and they would go and search again. That's about all I know about it."

"That's it?" I asked, rechecking.

She giggled.

"No, I guess not," she said. "People started making up rumors about where and why you went. So far, my favorite is that you went into some volcano and jumped in."

"Why would I do that?" I asked.

She giggled some more.

"So you can become more hot," she said.

I turned my head towards her, not sure what I just heard.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Some of the guys from the Rock Tribe told me that one. They said that you were probably so full of yourself that you did something that stupid," explained Buneary.

I sighed.

"Figures."

Out of all of the tribes on the whole island, the Rock Tribe was my tribe's worst enemy. They always boasted at how far greater they were compared to us because of their invariability to our electric attacks.

I, personally, had my own nemesis that was in the Rock Tribe. He always boasted that he could beat me along with everyone else in my tribe by himself. He would tease me and pick on me all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if it was him that made up this rumor.

"So, where did you go?" she asked.

Now, I smiled.

I told her the entire story, from the very beginning to now. I started with my mother getting sick, then to hearing about a flower that could have the cure, then to going over to human territory, meeting Matt, when Matt got hurt, all of my encounters with the RAM, when I met the Freedom Fighters, everything.

When I was finally done, Buneary stood there, quiet. I guess she was trying to suck everything in and understand what I had done.

"Wow," she said, still with her back against mine. "You really went through all that?"

I nodded my head, knowing that she could feel the motion even though she isn't looking at me.

"I guess I can understand why you told me to 'live with it', after hearing all that you went through."

I looked down at the grass again. I have been through a lot lately, a lot more than an average Pikachu should go situation.

A small wind blew at us, sending chills down both of our spines. I felt Buneary shiver as the wind came.

"Oh, it's cold!" she said. "Here, turn around."

I wanted to question her at how that would help, but I turned around and faced her, not knowing why or for what reason.

As soon as my body was fully turned, she placed her head right on my chest while putting her hands on my stomach. Then, she started wiggling her nose even deeper into my chest.

Was she snuggling?

"Bun," she said. "That's a whole lot better."

"Um . . . c-could y-you . . ."

I tried to say something, anything, but my mouth wouldn't let me.

"Your chest is so warm," she complemented and snuggled some more.

She felt warm to me as well. Her soft fur on my chest felt...comforting.

I. . . liked it. Maybe it's just been so long to have been with another of my own kind that this felt comforting and relaxing.

But, on the other side of my head, I felt uncomfortable in this situation.

Not really knowing what else to do, I tried to keep her talking.

"Um . . .so, what about you?" I asked.

Her turned her head on my chest and closed her eyes.

"Hm?" she said, lazily.

She sounded tired.

Oh, that must be it! She's just tired and wanted to lay on something warm. I did wake her up from her sleep, so she must be still sleepy.

"What about you? Tell me something about yourself," I said.

She let out a big yawn, then started talking.

"I'm just a . . . you know: an ordinary girl," she started. "I grew up in the Normal Tribe, raised by my mom and dad, work out in the fields sometimes . . . nothing very exciting about my life."

I had to keep her talking. I still needed her to carry Matt's body and making her talk seemed to be keeping her awake.

"Well you shouldn't say that. Not yet, anyways. Everyone has got their own story to tell, maybe you haven't found yours, but it'll come someday," I said.

"Buneary . . .I don't think so," said Buneary. "My life is too dull to be exciting."

"What about now?" I asked. "You've seen a human for the first time in your life and are helping some stranger Pikachu to take him to the MCIP. Doesn't that sound like a little adventure? Saving a human?"

Buneary opened her eyes slightly and looked up at me without turning her head.

"Yeah . . . I guess it is a bit exciting."

She smiled and closed her eyes again.

I looked down at Matt's frozen body. There were very small amounts of droplets of water around the frozen mass.

"Alright," I said, starting to get up. "Lets go. Matt's body is starting to thaw out."

Buneary groaned and got up sleepily. She rubbed her eyes and walked over to Matt's body as if she had just woken up from a long nap.

_Well, she did sleep . . . or did a extremely short nap,_ I thought.

I got off of the rock we sat on and went over to one side of Matt while Buneary went to the other.

We lifted the body up at the same time, then started moving to the side again, towards where I knew the MCIP would be.

We walked for a long time. Matt's body limited our steps, so we had to do small baby steps just to move forward, but at least we were moving and getting somewhat closer.

The ice on his body hurt our paws, so we grabbed some nearby leaves and used them to carry Matt.

We walked quietly, for there was nothing that came to mind to talk about.

I wanted to break the silence, though.

"So . . . where did you learn to do that ice attack?" I asked Buneary.

She moved her head so that she could see me.

"It's kinda a long story," she began as we continued walking. "Pretty much, I was friends with some of the Water Tribe, and I saw them use the move once. I wanted to learn how to do it, so I asked them and they taught me."

"That didn't sound like a very long story to me," I said, sarcastically.

She giggled.

"Yeah, I guess it really wasn't," she said.

More silence.

"So . . .eh . . . who exactly taught you it?" I asked.

She giggled again.

"You have to be the most talkative boy I have ever met," she said.

"Am I?" I asked. "I guess, it's just been so long since I have been able to actually talk to someone with them understanding."

She looked at me again while walking.

"You mean that the humans couldn't understand you?"

"Nope. They couldn't understand a single thing I old them. I had to use body language if I wanted to say something to them just so they could understand."

"Wow," she said and put her head back to where it was. "What about food? How did you get food?"

"I didn't," I said. "The humans from the Freedom Fighters gave some fruit to eat. That's about all I've eaten this whole time."

"Really?!" she asked, sounding astounded. "You must be starving!"

I looked down at my stomach. It hasn't growled for awhile and it hasn't hurt either.

But then, I have been very busy to worry about food after I left the Freedom Fighters hideout.

"As for now, I'm not," I said. "But I'm sure as soon as all of this is over, I'll be able to eat a volcano."

Buneary laughed when I said that. I laughed with her, grateful again to have someone to talk to and laugh with.

More uncountable steps went by in silence.

"So what were you doing so close to the shore?" I asked. "The Normal Tribe's territory should be much more closer to the center of the island, right?"

"Yeah," she said, sighing. "I just never have liked to sleep around those guys."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She slowed down a bit to step over a rock on the ground, then continued walking regularly.

"Well, the guys over there are always . . ."

"Annoying?" I guessed.

"Loud," she corrected. "Just about half of the people I sleep next to snore all night long. I just can't sleep at all with all of that noise going on, so I moved over there where we met. Besides, I like the sound of the waves."

"Ah," I said.

I turned by head and looked forward where we were headed. I could make out some sort of clearing.

Could that be it?

We walked through the trees and did, in fact, come to a very large clearing.

And guess what was there.

Just ahead of us, I could see a large hut made out of ticks, leaves, palm branches, other branches, and some wood. The Medical Center for Injured Pokémon.

"We made it," I breathed.

My steps quickened as I moved closer to the hut. Buneary had some trouble catching up, but somehow kept hold of Matt and kept up with me.

We reached the MCIP in mere moments. The entry was a cut out in the front of the hut, covered with very thin leaves that allowed easy entry and exit.

We walked in and placed Matt's body on a table at the center of the hut. Around us, there were containers filled with all sorts of potions and ingredients to cures all along the walls and the ground. I exhaled with relief at seeing such a memorable place.

But, where was the nurse?

"Nurse?" I called. "Nurse!"

No one came.

Buneary heard me calling the nurse and started calling her herself.

"Nurse!" she said.

"Nurse!" I called.

Eventually, through a different entry, a large, pink, round creature came in. The Chansey walked in while rubbing her eyes from sleep.

"Wha-what's going on here?" she asked.

Chansey yawned and turned towards me.

As soon as she recognized me, her eyes shot open in amassment.

"You," she said. "Where have you been?! Everyone has been searching everywhere for you, young one!"

Before I had a chance to say anything, the nurse leaped over to me and gave me an enormous, bone crushing hug.

"Oh, but I'm so happy that you're okay," she said while still holding me.

"N-nurse," I tried to say between her arms. "I n-need your help."

She let go of me, but stared at me with serious eyes.

"Help? You should be helping me tell everyone else that you're okay!" she said.

"But nurse, I need your help! My friend is dying!" I said.

Her eyes opened wide.

"Really? How so? Who is it?"

I pointed at Matt's frozen body on the table. Chansey turned her head to follow where I was pointed and stood shocked at the mass on the table.

She walked over to the frozen body, examining it with both shock and fear.

"Is that . . . what kind of Pokémon is this?" she asked.

"He's not," said Buneary.

Chansey looked up from the body and at Buneary.

"Then what is it?"

"He is a human being," I said from Chansey's side.

Chansey turned around to face me, then faced the body below her. I could see her eyes dart all around Matt's frozen body, consumed with fear and shock still.

"T-this can't be," she breathed.

"He is," I said. "And he is dying. I was able to help him a little bit, but now he stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating. My other friend here was able to help me by freezing his body so we could have more time to bring him over here."

Chansey still continued to examine the body, as if it wasn't really there and she was double checking. She even placed her hand on the inert body, but then quickly pulled it away as if it somehow stung her.

She turned her head towards me.

"I-I don't know," she said, scared. "I mean . . .this is . . .a human! We're not even suppose to see another human, never being with one! If anyone else were to find out about this . . ."

"So don't tell anyone," I said.

"But, I have to," she said. "If we are going to save this . . .human . . . then I alone cannot do it. I have to get the other assistance to help."

"Then please," I begged. "Please get them."

She looked into my eyes, hesitating whether or not to do it.

"But . . . why a human?" she asked.

"It's a long story," I said. "But mainly, it's because it's my fault he's like this, and he saved my life."

She looked at me again, pondering what she had just heard.

Then, she sighed and ran out of the hut to alert the others.

* * *

After what felt like forever, Chansey came back . . . but not alone.

Closely following her from behind, there was a Charmander, a Machop, a Kadabra with an Abra, a Squirtle, a Gardevoir along with a Kirlia, and a Azumarill. They all followed the nurse into the hut in a straight line.

I remembered all of them, every single one, for we all helped in the MCIP whenever a fellow Pokémon was hurt.

But now . . . there was no Pokémon injured.

"Alight," said the Machop. "Now could you tell us why we had to wake up this early in the morning?"

Everyone else agreed and asked the same question to Chansey as she walked over to one side of the hut.

I walked over to Chansey.

"You mean, you didn't tell them?" I asked.

"I thought they wouldn't believe me," said Chansey.

As I walked over to Chansey, some of the others recognized me.

"Hey! Look who's back!" called one of them.

Everyone turned and looked at me.Immediately, I became the center of attention.

Everyone started welcoming me back and asking where I was. They kept telling me that they were so worried and looked everywhere for me.

"You're back!"

"Where have you been, man?"

"You has us most worried."

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"You don't look so good. Where have you been?"

"It is good that you are back with us."

Machop grabbed my head and started giving me a knuckle-head with his hard knuckles, playfully. Squirtle came over to me while I got my knuckle-head from Machop and patted me on the back in a greeting. Azumarill gave me a small scratch behind my ear with a welcoming smile. After they were finally done, Kirlia rushed over and embraced me with an arm crushing hug.

"Oh, I'm so happy you're back! I was starting to get worried!" Kirlia said as she hugged me.

"I'm . . .worried . . .of suffocating," I said, trying to breathe.

"Oh, sorry," she said and let go of me.

I breathed in, grateful for the air.

Machop came over again and slapped me hard against my back in a greeting sort of way, knocking the wind out of me with his strength.

"So the nurse woke us up just to see you?" he asked. "It's good to see that you're okay and all, but couldn't it wait til tomorrow?"

Everyone laughed at the side comment.

Well, everyone except me, Buneary, and Chansey.

"No, that's not the reason," said Chansey from behind everyone.

Everyone turned towards her. She stood in front of the table, blocking everyone's view of Matt's frozen body.

"This is the true reason why I woke you all and brought all of you here."

She stepped to the side, allowing everyone to see.

All of the other Pokémon crowded around the frozen body. It took only moments for them to react.

"Is that . . .?"

"It is!"

"A human?"

"No, it's not possible."

"I thought they weren't real."

"I knew it!"

"How did this being get all of the way over here to this island?"

I called from behind everyone, turning their heads again.

"I can explain all of that, but I really need your help. This human here is about to die," I started.

At first, everyone reacted. Some were worried, some were confused, and others were even relieved.

"Please, let me finish!" I shouted over the commotion.

Everyone quieted down.

"Look," I continued. "I really need your help with this. Yes, I know he's a human and I know that he's not supposed to be here, but that doesn't mean that we can't save him."

"Why should we?" asked Gardevoir. "This is a human, so why should we help him?"

I turned to Gardevoir.

"Because, he's my friend, and it's my fault that he's like this. If I had never met him, he probably would be alive and healthy by now . . . with that last of his family."

"What do you mean?" asked Gardevoir again.

I turned my head and looked away, remembering what I've learned these pass few days.

I looked back up, but now at everyone so that they know that I was talking to all of them.

"The organization called 'The RAM' are real. They are bringing destruction and horror to the humans right now as we speak. The human that is on that table right now used to have a mother, but she was killed by the RAM because of me."

I let the words sink in a little before I moved on.

No one said a word, no one moved, no one even blinked.

"That was when Matt, the human, was first hurt. I did my best to try to keep him alive, but it wasn't much. After that, he got hurt again . . . by saving my own life."

Some gasped, some murmured something, and others just simply looked at me, astounded.

"So please," I begged again. "Please help me with this. He's my friend and I know that all of you would've done the same with any of your own friends. Please."

Everyone was silent, probably pondering what they heard and what to do.

Buneary walked up next to me, trying to lend some comfort. I turned my head over to her, but then turned back to face the others.

Eventually, Machop took a step forward.

"Alright, I'll do it."

After he said that, Kirlia also took a step closer.

"I'll help too. If he's a friend of yours, then he's a friend of mine."

Gardevoir also took a step.

"If Kirlia's going to do it, then I should help as well."

Soon after, Charmander and Squirtle also took a step.

"We'll help too if we can!"

Then finally, Kadabra, Abra, and Azumarill took a step closer and nodded.

Everyone was in.

"I'll help too," said Buneary, next to me.

I turned my head over to her and nodded.

Chansey walked over to Matt's frozen body and told everyone to look.

"Thank you all for helping once again. Now, first off, the body has stopped working, according to our yellow friend here, so his body was frozen so we could have some time. Now, as soon as the body is unfrozen, we will only have so much time to try and revive him. Everyone get to your places, including you two," she said while pointing at me and Buneary. "Now, lets get to work."

**Woah, man! I wanted to keep on going, but if I did, this chapter would be way too big! So, Instead, I decided to leave ya'll in another one of my famous cliffhangers that I just know ya'll love. Lol **

**I separated this chapter into two parts: Morning and afternoon.**

**I saw this episode in Diamond and Pearl where a Buneary falls in love with Ash's Pikachu, so I thought, why not? I needed a new character anyway.**

**Hoped ya'll liked it! Please tell me what you think!**


	9. Day Eight Rest

War of Hope Day 8 (Afternoon)

Everyone circled around Matt's frozen body with the nurse at his head.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" she asked.

Everyone nodded.

The Chansey nodded in return and turned to the little, red Charmander.

"Thaw his body out for us," she commanded.

Charmander nodded and moved over to Matt's side. The Charmander opened his mouth and breathed. Soon, small flames come out of his mouth and over Matt's body.

The Charmander made his flames come out in a straight line over Matt's body, going over the frozen mass and to the other side.

In only a matter of seconds, I could see water start to drip across Matt's body as he thawed out. The ice that covered him was disappearing and melting away.

However, as the ice melted away, I could also see strange purple spots all over his body. I don't remember seeing those spots before he was frozen, so where did they come from? One of the others noticed this and asked about it.

"What are these spots over the human? Is he supposed to look like this?" asked the Azumarill.

"No," I said. "He never had those before."

"Then what are they?" Azumarill asked again.

The nurse looked at one of the purple spots on Matt while the Charmander was still thawing him out.

"They look like . . .some sort of frost bite," she said as she examined it. "His body must not be used to such cold temperatures."

"So is this just something else we have to fix?" asked Machop.

"Yes."

Machop looked as if he was about to complain, but then Charmander stopped his fire breathing and said, "Done."

"Alright, quickly everyone!" said Chansey. "Kadabra, Abra, you two know what to do."

The two psychics nodded and moved closer to Matt's now unfrozen body.

Both of the psychics closed their eyes, going into their most deepest concentration. Then, they both started glowing with a blue aura around their bodies. I looked over at Matt and saw that this chest was glowing with the same exact aura.

Buneary leaned over to my ear.

"What are they doing?" she whispered in my ear.

I turned and whispered in her ear.

"You see, the Kadabra and the Abra are using their psychic abilities to try to get the heart to start pumping again. One of them does the left half of the heart while the other does the right. It takes a lot of concentration for them because they can't see the heart and they have to work together to do it correctly," I explained.

Buneary made a "Oh!" kind of face and leaned away.

Everyone was quiet as Kadrabra and Abra tried to get Matt back to life.

Soon, I was able to see Matt's chest move up and down, but it was just from the psychics doing so.

"Gardevoir," called Chansey while the two other psychics were still trying on Matt. "Force some air into his lungs."

Gardevoir quickly moved over to Matt's head. She placed one of her hands on the top of his forehead, then the other hand on his chin. Then, she pulled his chin up and opened his mouth. She placed her mouth over his open one and started blowing air into his lungs.

I remembered doing these two things back on the boat after I killed the deranged Gyarados. Matt tried to help me by giving his life up. I tried to bring him back by doing these two things, but nothing seemed to work.

Maybe because they are doing it more technical, Matt might have a higher chance to live. I just hope that this works.

I looked back over at Kadabra and Abra, they were starting to sweat.

"It's not working," said Kadabra.

"Keep trying!" I begged.

Abra turned towards me. Even though his eyes are always squinted and seem to be closed all of the time, he looked as though he was looking at me.

"Why don't you try?" he asked.

"I have!" I snapped back. "Why do you think that I haven't?"

"I'm not saying you haven't," responded Abra. "I'm just saying that maybe you should try again. Our efforts are not doing much, but maybe if you do a quick burst of electricity to his heart, it might jolt his heart back up."

"He has a point," said Chansey.

I turned to face her.

"But what if I end up just making him worse? I still don't know if he can survive electricity! Imagine what could happen if I did it straight at his heart!" I said.

She looked at me seriously.

"It doesn't matter if it doesn't work. He is already dead, so nothing you could possibly do can make it worse," she said.

I wanted to say something else, but I couldn't think of anything to say back. She was right . . . technically, Matt was already dead.

Maybe I should try.

I got over to Matt's chest and placed my paws over where his heart is. I looked up at Chansey, just to see if she was sure about this.

She nodded her head at me.

Here goes nothing.

"Clear!"

I released a small jolt of my electricity straight down into his chest, hopefully hitting his heart. The jolt of it made Matt's upper-body lurch violently into the air.

I stopped my jolt and lifted my paws off of Matt's chest. Nothing.

"Try again!" said Chansey. "Gardevoir, keep forcing air into his lungs every time when they are done!"

Gardevoir got back down to Matt's head and blew more air into his lungs. When that didn't work, she stood back up and waited for me.

I started rubbing my paws together, trying to get as much static as possible. Then, I placed my paws on Matt's chest again.

"Clear!"

Another jolt of electricity came out of me and into Matt's heart. His body lurched up as it happened, but then fell back down on the table, still lifeless.

"Again!" said Chansey.

Gardevoir placed her mouth back on Matt's and blew more air into his lungs, then stopped and backed away.

"Clear!"

Matt's body lurched up again, but then fell back down to the table to be as lifeless as before.

"Again!"

"Clear!"

Another lurch of the inert body, another fall.

"Again!"

"Clear!"

Nothing.

"Again!"

"Clear!"

Nothing still.

I found myself crying. My vision was getting blurred by the tears that overflowed my eyes. I quickly wiped them away with the back of my arm and started rubbing my paws again for the next try.

"Clear!"

Matt's body lurched again, then fell. Gardevoir was about to quickly blow more air into his mouth, but . . .

Matt suddenly inhaled deeply. My paws that were still over his chest could feel something thumping from the inside. He is alive!

I was ready to spring on him with a big hug, but then he started screaming. It wasn't just a regular scared scream, but it was a loud, long, painful, bloody murder kind of scream. Some of the others covered their ears from Matt's noise.

Matt squirmed and flinched all over the table, keeping his eyes tightly closed together.

"What's going on?! What's he doing?" asked Squirtle, having to shout to be heard above Matt's scream.

"Well," shouted Chansey. "Now that his heart is working and he's alive again, all of the pain from his wounds along with his new frost bites all over his body are coming to his brain! It must be too sudden for his body to take! If this keeps up, he might go into some sort of state-of-shock, but I don't know if humans do that!"

Matt kept screaming in pain. He kept flinching and moving violently on the table, maybe even uncontrollably.

"Hold him down!" shouted Chansey.

Everyone (including me) grabbed a part of Matt and held him down to the table. Matt kept trying to fight us off, but we held him down. . .but with difficultly.

"Now what?" shouted Kirlia, who was holding Matt's arm that kept pushing up, sideways, down, and across.

"We still need to heal his wounds, but we can't do anything if he continues to move like this!" shouted Chansey. "Knock him out!"

"Allow me!" said Machop.

Machop let go of the part of Matt he held on to and quickly went over to Matt's head, making Chansey move aside. From there, he placed both of his hands on both sides of Matt's head, then, using his hands to hold Matt's head still, Machop leaned his own head back, and slammed it right on Matt's forehead.

Matt immediately stopped his screaming and moving as soon as he was hit, and laid still. He was still breathing, but he didn't move anything else.

"Finally," said Squirtle. "We can have some quiet."

"That doesn't mean that we're done," snapped Chansey to Squirtle.

"I know . . ."

Chansey rolled her eyes.

"Okay, I think it's safe to let him go now," she said.

I let go of the part of Matt that I held, as did everyone else.

"Now, everyone —"

"Wait, nurse," interrupted Kadabra. "While I was trying to start the human's heart, I sensed something inside his wounds. Probably something metal."

"That right!" I said, remembering. "He was shot in the leg. He probably still has the bullet inside him . . ."

Kirlia turned towards me.

"A bullet? What's that?" asked Kirlia.

"It's this little thing that the humans shoot at each other —. Look, it's just something metal and it's something bad and we need to get it out," I said to them.

"If you knew about this 'bullet' than why didn't you tell us about it?" asked Kadabra.

I stayed quiet for awhile, embarrassed about what I was about to say.

". . . I forgot . . ."

Kadabra sighed impatiently.

"Details such as this are very important, yellow one," he said. "Young Kirlia, please do the honors."

Kirlia, who was right besides Kadabra, nodded her head and closed her eyes. Soon, she, too, was covered with a blue aura. She raised her arms out in front of her, over Matt's body.

"Quickly!" said Chansey. "She can concentrate better if there is nothing blocking her way to the skin."

"And that means?" asked Machop.

Chansey rolled her eyes.

"Take off these . . .stuff over his body," she said.

"Clothes," I corrected her. "The one on the top of his body is called a shirt."

Chansey nodded quickly to me.

"Alright, thank you, little one. Now, we need someone to cut off his . . .um . . . thirt."

"I will," said Machop.

Machop placed both of his hands on Matt's shirt and tore it in half, opening Matt's bare chest.

As I looked at Matt's chest, I realized that I have never seen his bare skin. Well . . . besides his arms and head and stuff, but that doesn't really count. . .

His skin was smooth. It had only some hair, but it was hardly noticeable. I could make out some muscles above his stomach, and his stomach seemed to be awkwardly small. He must be very hungry. . .

Then, I saw the wound . . . the original wound that started this whole thing. It was no longer red, but now it was purple and green, the skin around the wound was completely black.

Buneary didn't take the sight very well. Of course, since this was her first day being in the MCIP, she wasn't used to seeing blood or open cuts and such. She turned her head away from the sight and covered her mouth in an attempt to try not to throw up.

Soon, the wound was covered with the same blue aura that was around Kirlia. I watched as she first cracked the wound open from the scab that was above it, then I watched as her psychic powers moved aside muscles, veins, and blood.

But why was she searching in this wound? The bullet was in his leg.

I soon saw the answer. Slowly, very small metal pieces were pulled out, all covered with the same blue aura, and thrown to the side.

More and more pieces came out of the wound, but all of them were extremely small that if it wasn't for the aura, I probably wouldn't have seen any of them.

When there was no more, Machop tore open the clothes covering Matt's wounded leg, allowing Kirlia to work on that one.

This wound was more fresh and was much more red, but was slightly purple from being frozen.

Kirlia had to crack the small scab on this wound as well, but when she started moved away muscles inside Matt's leg, Matt started to stir back awake.

"Don't let him wake up yet!" I shouted. "Machop!"

The fighter was already coming back over to Matt's head. Once again, he placed both of his hands on both sides of Matt's head and slammed him own head into Matt's.

Matt dropped back down.

I sighed. I hate to keep doing this, but he is going to feel much pain if he's conscious.

The now open wound on Matt's leg was becoming more and more of a deeper hole as Kirlia's powers moved aside all of the muscles and veins. Soon, I was able to make out something shinny and metal sticking out.

The bullet was then covered with the aura and was slowly pulled out. I watched as the bullet left the wound and floated in midair.

The bullet was quickly discarded and thrown away. Kirlia opened her eyes, and as she did so, her aura faded away.

Kirlia staggered back for a little, as if she had suddenly gone off balance or was dizzy from something.

Gardevoir came over and quickly took hold of Kirlia.

"Young one, what is wrong?" she asked Kirlia.

"I-I'm fine. I just . . . just got a little dizzy from that I guess."

Kirlia made an embarrassed smile, then got back up to her feet. She turned her head to Gardevoir to show that she was alright.

"I'm fine, really," she said with another smile.

"Good, we got that done," said Chansey.

I turned my head to look at her, along with everyone else.

"Charmander, Squirtle, Azumarill, quickly work on the wounds," she commanded.

Charmander moved first. He moved over to Matt's side, where the original, infected wound was, and opened his mouth.

A tiny, blue flame erupted out of Charmander's mouth. Charmander blew the tiny flame into the wound, killing all of the bacteria and cleansing the wound from the infection.

Now that I think about it, Charmander might have to completely burn off the entire wound itself because it is so infected.

Which is what he was doing as I watched. The dead skin along with the infected scab was slowly burnt away or right off by Charmander's bright, blue flame. He moved his flame that was produced from his mouth slowly up and down the wound.

I watched him as he stayed in one spot with his flame until the green was burnt away and replaced by a dark red.

Eventually, Charmander was done. He stopped producing the flame and moved to the other wound on Matt's leg. When he moved, Squirtle replaced his old spot at Matt's original wound. From there, Squirtle opened his mouth as well and shot out some clean water from his mouth, cleansing the wound.

Chamander did the same thing he did last time to the wound on Matt's leg. This wound didn't take as long, and when Charmander was done, he stopped and stepped aside.

Azumarill now came over to this wound and did the same as Squirtle and poured water onto the wound.

Both Squirtle and Azumarill were cleaning their separate wounds at the same time. When they were done, they both stepped aside.

Chansey walked up to Matt's head again.

"Now that everything else is finally done, let us circle around him and hold hands," she said.

Chansey turned her head towards the psychics.

"You four know what to do," she said and nodded.

The four of them nodded back.

Everyone circled closer to Matt again. Then, when the psychics said they were ready, we all held hands.

Buneary came to my side and grabbed hold of my paw. I went over to Squirtle and grabbed his paw.

The last ones to join the circle were the psychics. When they held hands with everyone else, they each nodded to one another, then closed their eyes.

Slowly, they started to glow again, but not with the same blue aura as last time. This time, they had a soft, yellow aura around each of them.

Then, Matt's entire body was covered with the same aura. As soon as I saw this, I could feel my energy being sucked away and used up.

Buneary must've felt it too, because she turned and whispered in my ear, not trying to worry anyone else.

"What's going on? I'm starting to feel weak," she whispered.

I turned my head to her ear and whispered back to her, still holding everyone else's hands.

"You just have to give you energy up," I said.

"What?!" she whispered back without turning her head. "If I did that, wouldn't I die or something?"

"No," I whispered back. "You see, the psychics over there are using their energy to heal all of the wounds on Matt, the human. But, sometimes they can't do it all by themselves, so right now they're using everyone's energy along with their own to make this work. Don't worry about dying, the psychics would never take took much energy even if they had to."

I looked over at Buneary's face. She still didn't seem comfortable with this, but I guess she decided to trust me for she closed her eyes in a manner of relaxing.

I remembered my first time doing this, and I wasn't too happy about it either. It was my 2nd day working at the MCIP, and we found a Grovyle with a severely broken leg.

After we cleaned him up and everything, we had to heal his leg. We found out that the bone itself was actually snapped in half and moved to the other side of the upper half. Not a very easy job to heal.

When the psychics did heal him the same way we were now healing Matt, I was scared. I was scared that all of my energy was going to be drained right out of me. I was scared that I was going to be the only one to faint and embarrass myself.

But, none of that happened. When we were done and the leg was healed, I just felt a little bit tired, nothing more.

Now that we are healing Matt, I opened myself up. If I could, I would've held out my energy in my paw and offered it to the psychics just to make sure that they had enough.

I looked down at Matt's body. I could see the wounds healing rapidly before my eyes. I could make out veins coming back together, muscles sewing themselves back, and the skin slowly crawling over the wound, making it smaller and smaller.

Even the frost bites over Matt were healing. All of the purple spots were shrinking until they were completely gone. The bump on Matt's head that was made by Machop was also being healed.

Everything was looking better on Matt. He was getting better!

Finally, the psychics stopped and their glowing aura vanished. I noticed that they all looked even more tired than when they first came in here.

Then, Chansey raised her hands over Matt's head, then placed them on him. She too began to glow, and soon Matt did too.

After a short moment, Chansey took her hands off of Matt's head and stepped back.

I couldn't see a scratch, bruise, bump, or anything on Matt at all. We did it!

Then, I could see Matt starting to move. I let go of Buneary's paw and Squirtle's and watched. Everyone else noticed this too, so they all crowded around Matt to watch. After all, he was a human, and no one here has never seen a human before, so everyone must be curious.

Matt slowly opened his eyes, almost as if he had just woken up from a dream.

However, when he fully opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a very curious Kirlia who was watching him straight on his face.

"AH! What the?!"

Matt, startled, pushed back, away from Kirlia, and fell down to the floor. When he fell down to the floor, he landed on his bottom, but in doing so saw all of the other Pokémon around him.

He released another yelp of fear.

"What's he doing?" asked Machop.

Matt's eyes darted to Machop and all of the others. With every passing second, his face seemed to fill more and more with fear of . . . well, us, or more likely, them.

Matt tried to scoot back on his bottom, trying desperately to get away from the other Pokémon.

We're monsters to him. We must be! The only Pokémon he has ever seen was me, and now he suddenly sees everyone else. I could only imagine what was going through in his head.

Everyone, wanting to look closely at the human, moved closer to Matt, but in dong so just made him even more scared.

"Stop, stop!" I shouted. "You're scaring him!"

"How?" asked Charmander. "We didn't even do anything."

"Just, don't move," I said.

Matt scooted all of the way back until he hit the back on the hut with his back, still facing the other Pokémon.

He was cornered, or that must be what was going through his head.

"Matt," I said, walking towards him from the side.

He wouldn't move his eyes from everyone else, even when I talked to him. I walked closer to him, but slowly and cautiously.

"Matt," I repeated. "It's me. Don't worry about them, they won't hurt you."

Matt still wouldn't look away.

I went all of the way up to him, how he allowed me to come so close without him knowing was beyond me, but I came to him and laid a comforting paw on his shoulder.

He made a small yelp of fear again and turned his head to see who touched him. As soon as his eyes landed on me, all of the fear on his face disappeared. Instead, it was replaced with a relieved smile.

"Pikachu!" he shouted with joy.

He half-lunged towards me and hugged me with tightly embraced arms. Though he almost tipped me over to my back, I gladly returned the hug.

"I'm so happy you're alive," I said. The words came out very quietly and softly that only he heard them.

He held onto me for a while longer. If I had not let go of him, we might've held onto each other forever, but I had to set a few things straight.

Matt let go of me, and in doing so, felt something different.

"What happened?" he asked.

He quickly looked down through his torn shirt and at his stomach, where his wound used to be.

"I-it's . . . gone?" He looked back up at me. "It's gone! I . . .I feel . . . great!"

"He can talk?" asked Buneary, who was watching.

I turned towards the others.

"Yes," I answered. "But, he doesn't understand us. I don't know why or how, but we can understand him, but not vice-versa."

Matt looked around, taking in all of the Pokémon that he was seeing along with everything else.

"W-where . . . where am I?" he asked.

Kadabra took a step forward.

"You are at the home island of all Pokémon in the world. You are the first human ever to set foot here," he said.

"Um . . ." was all Matt said.

Matt, not leaving his eyes from Kadabra, placed a hand on one side on his head, covering one side of his mouth, and whispered to me.

"I think he's trying to talk to me." Matt whispered.

I nodded. No duh.

"Alright," he said and removed his hand. "Um . . . hello?" Matt said to Kadabra.

"Greetings to you too, human," said Kadabra.

"Kadabra, I just told you that he doesn't understand us," I said.

Kadabra nodded.

"I know, I heard you, but I just have to see something for myself," said Kadabra. "Now, human, where are you from?"

"Uh . . ." said Matt again. "Hi? Um . . . Hello? I'm sorry, but I don't know what to say."

"Just tell me where you are from," repeated Kadabra.

"Um . . . Man, your breath stinks," said Matt.

There were small chuckles from behind Kadabra when Matt said this. Kadabra turned to look at them, to motion them to stop. They did, and he turned back to face Matt again.

"So, you cannot understand a single thing I say, correct?" asked Kadabra.

"Kadabra," I said. "It's pretty obvious that he doesn't understand. Besides, what kind of question is that?"

"Um . . . what kind of Pokémon are you?" asked Matt.

Kadabra, ignoring me, answered Matt's question.

"I am a Kadabra, from the Psychic Tribe."

Matt took it into consideration.

"A . . . Tadabra. . ." said Matt.

"It's 'Kadabra'," corrected Kadabra.

"Sorry," I said, cutting in. "It takes him awhile to pronounce everyone's names. It took him a long time to learn how to say mine."

"But he understood me," said Kadabra. "Or at least what I am. Is that all that humans can hear? What kinds we are?"

I was about to say something, but stopped to take it into consideration. Could that be what the humans hear? I would make since how they cannot understand anything except for when I tell them what I am.

"I . . . I guess so," I said.

Kadabra made a nod, then got back up to his feet and walked back over to the others.

I stood up, then let out a very long yawn. Was I that tired? I have been up all night . . .

"Well, now look who's tired," said Machop. "Now, why don't we all hit the hey?"

"That . . ." I let out another yawn. "Doesn't sound like a bad idea."

"You aren't seriously considering keeping him here? For a whole night?!" said Gardevoir.

I turned to her.

"Where else can I put him? We both have to go to sleep. I've been up all night and need rest." I said.

"Yes, I understand that, but where are we going to put him?" asked Gardevoir. "We can't let anyone else know of him, otherwise who knows what will happen!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Look," I said. "No one needs to know about this . . . about him. If no one here talks about what happened just now, we wont have to worry about a thing."

"What if someone sees him?" asked Azumarill. "They'll surely tell someone."

"I'll hid him," I said.

"Where?" asked Kirlia.

I turned towards her.

"Somewhere. I'll find a place," I said.

"I'll help."

This came from Buneary. I turned around and faced her. She was shyly looking at me, apparently embarrassed to talk.

"I . . . I know somewhere that no one will look," she said. "It's a nice place to sleep too."

I smiled to her.

"Perfect. Can you take us there?" I asked.

She looked up at me and nodded. I smiled again.

Matt, who was still at my side, had been listening to my whole conversation.

"I still have no idea what's going on," he said sarcastically.

Everyone laughed.

* * *

"It isn't much, but this is it."

Buneary had brought me and Matt over to a moist cave. The cave was far away from most of the territories around here. The only territory that I could think of that could be significantly close would be maybe the Fire Tribe, and they usually don't travel far.

The cave itself was perfect. As I walked inside of it, I could feel the humidity inside of it that warmed my body from the cold outside. The ground was covered in soft moss, almost cushioning each of our steps.

As soon as I felt the moss on my feet, I feel down to my back like a rock. I was dead tired. I welcomed the soft ground beneath me with grace. It felt like the only thing I've laid on was rock and metal . . . which, probably I did.

Matt, who was following me and Buneary, also walked in the cave. I could see the look on his face, telling me that he also liked the cave.

He kneeled at a spot and laid down on his back near me.

"Wow," he said. "I've never felt something so . . . soft . . ."

I chuckled. I guess it has been so long since the humans have felt grass for dirt or . . . almost anything natural. I could only imagine how much back pain the humans could be having from sleeping on only metal for their whole life.

Buneary giggled at Matt.

"I can see that you both like it," she said.

"Yes . . ." I breathed, but it was more like a relaxed sigh.

She giggled again.

"I'm glad that you like it."

I sat up from my spot so I could see her.

"How did you find this place? And how do you know that no one comes here?" I asked.

Buneary walked over to were I sat and sat down next to me.

"Remember how I told you that everyone else in my tribe is noisy when they sleep?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Well," she started. "While I was trying to find a quiet place, I found this cave. All of the nights that I've slept here, no one has ever came here."

She leaned over towards me, making her face the only thing I was able to see. She stared at me straight in the eyes.

"NO ONE is to know about this place, understand?" she said strictly.

I stared back at her, showing that I was as serious as she was.

"Don't worry," I said. "Not a word of this place will leave this cave."

She smiled.

"Good."

Then, she turned her head away from me. Her eyes moved to the ground, almost as if she didn't want to meet my eyes.

"Um . . .do you mind if . . ." she said. "If . . . I sleep with you two?"

Honestly, I couldn't care for the world if she did. I just wanted to go to sleep.

I yawned and nodded my head. I didn't see what her reaction was or if Matt fell asleep, for I already fell back down to my back and welcomed the gift of sleep.

**Sorry that this took so darn long. I kinda rushed it a little bit because it was so late. Please forgive me...lol**


	10. Day Nine

War of Hope Day 9

That was probably the best sleep I have ever had in days. I didn't have any nightmares, my back never started hurting in the middle of the night, I was completely comfortable, and throughout the night I felt warm.

I did have a dream, though. It was that dream again with the female Pikachu, just that this time there were a few additions to it. This time, instead of the female trying to kiss me, it was my kissing her, and she was kissing me back.

I don't like having this dream, but I wouldn't consider it a nightmare either. I would rather have this dream than the dreams I have had with Matt dying and me being shot.

I slowly opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the light that shone through the cave. I sat up, yawned, then did a big stretch. Boy did that feel good.

I felt so relaxed. That sleep did me very good!

I looked around the cave, expecting to see Matt and Buneary laying around somewhere, but neither of them where here.

Oh, no! Where could Matt be? If he left the cave and walked around the island in daylight. . .

I've got to find him! I quickly got down on all fours and dashed over to the entrance—

"Hey! Where are you going?"

I knew that voice.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around. There was Matt, sitting down on the soft moss. He must've slept behind me, and that's why I didn't see him before.

Matt looked at me with a smile on his face.

"Well, good morning to you," he said cheerfully. "Did you sleep good? I know I did."

I smiled back at him and walked over to his side.

"You must've slept good, buddy. You slept through that whole day and night!" said Matt.

I slept that long?

I remember going to the MCIP very early in the morning . . . in the morning! Wow! I slept through the following day and night?! I must've been tired!

Matt must've woken up on that day and saw me still asleep, then maybe went back to sleep on that night. That would explain how he knows how long I slept.

Matt continued to smile at me, then looked past me, towards the entrance of the cave.

"Hey, look who's here!" he said.

I turned around to see who it was. It was the Buneary from the night before, holding some berries and fruits in her arms and paws.

As soon as she saw me, she dropped all of the food she was carrying. Her eyes widened and both of her ears perked up, then she dashed over to me with her arms wide open.

He grabbed me with a very tight hug, almost pushing me over to my back.

"Oh, you're all right!" she said, still holding me. "I kept thinking about the worst stuff, but you're okay!"

"What?" I asked, regaining my balance. "What happened?"

She looked up at me, still refusing to let me go.

"You were asleep for the longest time!" she said. "I thought that you were sick or something!"

Oh, just that? I guess I was asleep for awhile.

"Don't worry, I'm just fine," I reassured her. "I was just a little bit tired, that's all."

"'A little'?"

"Okay, so I was very tired. I just needed some sleep."

I reassured her with a smile.

She still looked a little worried about me and hugged me even closer to her.

"I was worried about you . . ." she said.

Matt, apparently having been watching us the whole time, cleared his throat loudly. Buneary looked over at the human, then looked back at the position me and her were in. Embarrassed, she quickly pushed me away and tried to act like nothing had just happened.

Buneary turned away from me and Matt.

"Um . . . I got you some food if you were hungry," she said.

I looked over at the berries she had dropped. They did look good.

I went over to the fruit and grabbed a paw-full of berries. All at once, I shoved all of the berries into my mouth and chewed gracefully.

Buneary turned back around and faced me, but when she did, she saw how stuffed my mouth was.

"Ew! Do you have any manners?!" she asked, disgusted.

I looked up at her, still trying to chew.

"Whaf?" I asked.

"Now don't talk with your mouth full! That's gross!"

If I could chuckle with my mouth full, I would have.

I couldn't help myself. I mean, how long has it been since I've had decent food? Plus, all of that work yesterday built me up an apatite! How should I act?

Matt walked over next to me, then sat down in front of the fruit. He looked at all of the food very closely, as if inspecting it. Then, he reached down for a small berry, picked it up, and eyed it very carefully.

"What's it doing?" asked Buneary.

I finally chewed up all of the food in my mouth and swallowed.

"First off: 'it' would like to be called 'he'," I corrected.

Buneary hung her head low slightly.

"Sorry . . . I forgot."

"It's fine," I said. "Second: I'm not real sure what he's doing. I don't think he has ever seen this kind of food before."

Matt still eyed his berry in his hand. He brought the berry up to his nose, sniffed it, then gave it a small lick.

Finally, he bit down on the berry and chewed it very slowly, tasting it.

Then, his eyes grew wide.

"Wow!" he shouted. "This . . .I have never tasted something so good! What is this?"

Not waiting for an answer, he quickly shoved the rest of the berry in his mouth while reaching with his other hand for more.

He ate worst that I did. If I hadn't known any better, I would've thought that he had been starving.

Buneary tilted her head over to the side.

"He eats?" she asked.

I turned my whole body to face her.

"What do you mean by tha—"

Then, I understood.

"You mean that you haven't fed Matt at all yesterday?!" I asked, almost shouting.

"I'm sorry," she said, sinking her head lower to the ground from shame. "I wasn't sure if humans had to eat or not."

"Did he ever act hungry?" I asked.

"Um . . .," she thought. "Well . . . I guess so, but I wasn't sure if the sound was his stomach or just the wind. . ."

I sighed and shook my head.

Well, I couldn't blame her. I wouldn't have known either if I didn't see Matt give food to his mother on that day.

Mother.

I gasped. I had forgotten all about her! She could be dead for all I know!

I looked over at Matt's pockets.

No, she will not be dead.

I went over to Matt and immediately stuck my paw down one of his pockets to find the flower.

Matt, still eating, was surprised by what I was doing and I almost scarred him with the suddenness.

"Hey! What do you need?" he asked as I kept searching in his pocket.

I ignored what he said and kept searching. There was nothing in this pocket besides dirt and some soft fluffy stuff.

Matt chuckled and brought his hand over to his other pocket. Just as I looked up to see what he was doing, he pulled out the Blue Bonnet.

"Is this what you were looking for?" he asked.

I stopped my search and grabbed the flower. Buneary was watching, and when she saw the flower, she gasped.

"I-is th-that . . . the Blue Bonnet?" she asked, astounded.

I nodded my head.

"Yes. Now I have to see my mother! This is the only thing that can save her. I'll be back later."

Then, without waiting for either Matt or Buneary to say anything, I ran out of the cave.

* * *

In only a matter of seconds, I had sprinted all the way back to the hut of the MCIP. I didn't know where my mother was, but I knew that out of everyone on this island, the nurse would know.

As I ran, I saw much more fellow Pokémon than I did the day before. Most of them spotted me as I zoomed by, but I didn't stop for anyone. Some of the faces I recognized and looked shocked when they saw me.

"_You must be the Pikachu that everyone has been talking about, right?"_

Was everyone really worried about me? Did my whole entire tribe actually tried to look for me? It seems almost too much for them to do. . .

I came running inside through the front of the MCIP, still holding the Blue Bonnet.

"Nurse! Nurse!" I shouted.

The Chansey was sitting down, grinding up herbs and mixing them with other ingredients. She was smiling as she mixed them and was even humming a soft tune before I shouted.

There was no one in the hut except for her. No patients, no assistance, no helpers, no one but her and me.

The nurse looked up at me from her medicine she was making and smiled.

"Why good morning, there!" she said. "I'm glad that you're finally awake."

"Nurse, where is my mother?" I asked quickly.

As soon as I had asked this question, her smile disappeared.

"Oh . . . young one," she said. "You know that she was very sick . . ."

"I know!" I snapped back. "But look! I got the antidote!"

I said this while holding up the Blue Bonnet for her to see.

Chansey looked at the flower in my paws. She seemed astounded by it somehow, maybe by how it looks or what it was.

The nurse got up to her feet and walked over to me.

"Wh-what is this?" she asked.

"This," I answered. "Is a Blue Bonnet."

Her hand covered her mouth.

"A Blue Bonnet!?" she said, amazed and shocked. "But, how did you get that?"

"I found it when I was over in the human territory and after I met Matt."

"The human?"

"Yes."

Chansey kept looking at the flower. I noticed that she was trying to examine its medical properties like she does with every wild herb she finds.

"This does seem . . . passable," she said.

"Now please, where is my mother?" I begged.

She grabbed the flower out of my hand and walked over to the tools she was using to make medicine with the other herbs.

"I brought her back to her tribe home," said the nurse.

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

Chansey picked up a small, hard, grass-made bowl and dropped the flower in it.

"We all expected her to die, young one," she said. "However, if you give me just a day, I can make this antidote for you and maybe cure your mother."

"Maybe?" I asked.

She turned and faced me.

"I know this must be hard for you, but you have to understand. I have never seen this flower before and neither have I ever made such an antidote. I'm still not sure if this could kill her slowly, or cure her quickly. After all, I have only heard of this flower in rumors," she explained.

She was right, of course. I only knew of this flower by the same rumors that she had heard of it. All only rumors. . .

"But, now we know that it's not a rumor anymore. It's real!" I said. "Maybe all of the other rumors are real too!"

The nurse thought about it. She looked down at the flower, then at me.

Finally, she smiled.

"I guess you're right," sighed the Chansey. "We just have to have a little bit of hope, I guess."

Then, she picked up her tools and began to grind up the flower and start making the antidote.

However, while she was making the antidote, I still needed to see my mother. It has been way too long since I've last seen her, and I have that urge just to see her happy face and smile.

"Um, I need to see my mother," I said.

The nurse looked up at me, but didn't stop her work.

"Hm?" she asked.

"I want to see my mother," I repeated. "Now."

She sighed and shook her head.

"I already told you, she is at her home tribe," she said.

"Where?" I asked. "Where in her tribe?"

"Where else?" she said.

Without pausing her work with the antidote, the nurse looked up at me and stared straight into my eyes.

"The Spring of Healing."

Of course. Why didn't I think of that? I thought while getting out of the small hut.

* * *

The Spring of Healing is a spring filled with magical water, or so the legend has it. Most people that are sick or have minor injuries go there to soak their wounds in the water.

Actually, the spring is a hot spring, so it's a no-wonder why it can heal so well. My mother must be there in an attempt to try to stay well. I have to see her!

She must be worried sick about me. If she does die, it would be of a broken heart rather than a disease. Knowing that would kill me! How could I live with myself?

I turned towards the direction of my tribe's territory . . . then stopped.

"_I don't know much, but most of your tribe, the Thunder Tribe, have been searching for you for days, or so I've heard. Every now and then, I would see some Jolteons come over to my tribe and ask about you."_

They've been looking for me for days. . . should I just walk in there? What would they say?

What would I say?

_Wouldn't they be happy to see you again?_

I don't know. What if they get mad at me for being away for so long. They'll ask questions about where I've been, and I can't tell them that I went all the way to human territory.

_True, but you'll have to show your face someday. These are our people._

So, what do I do? Tell them where I have been these past days?

_You could, but then the worst might happen._

I knew that. If someone else that can't keep their mouth shut hears about Matt and where I've been, our leader could find out along with everyone else on the entire island.

_You already told everyone at the MCIP about your trip._

Oh, no! I sure did! I told them along with that Buneary! Already I've told way too many people.

But, I can trust them, right?

_Maybe, maybe not._ _But, you defiantly cannot tell anyone else._

Then what should I say? What should I do?

_First of all, you have to go forward._

I thought about that. Go forward. . . I looked towards where I knew my tribe's territory was.

_Once you go, keep going. Everything will come at the end._

I chuckled a bit. My own mind was giving myself tips about life. I might as well be my own teacher.

And so, I dashed forward.

The Thunder Tribe's territory was located inside a small forest near the side of the island, where the sun sets. In that forest was a very large clearing where most of my tribe stays at.

My tribe is right beneath where the Fire Tribe is, in the mountains. Between the two of the territories is the Spring of Healing.

Rain water falls down on the mountains and (mostly) into a small river. The river water flows downward from the mountains, and while it flows the water is heated my the sun, the magma from nearby active volcanos, and (of course) the people from the Fire Tribe themselves.

All of this heated water comes pouring down a waterfall and into the Spring of Healing, already boiling hot. That is where I must go.

That is where my mother is at.

Legend has it that the water is homed to many different spirits that are there to relax in the hot water. While they lay their bodyless being into the water, their healing abilities flow out of them and into the relaxing water.

It is only legend. I personally don't believe it. I've seen some of the Ghost Tribe, but I hardly ever see any of them around the spring, so how could it be true?

I dashed into the territory. . . my people's territory. While I ran, I saw other Pokémon! More of my people, just walking around and minding their own business. There were so many that I almost couldn't believe it.

It's been way too long since I've been home, I guess. I was still astounded by the comfort my feet were having with running on such soft grass.

I had to stop the urge to stop my running and just talk to one of them. All I've ever said to anyone here so far was stuff about humans, guns, and death.

Some of them actually saw me while I ran and paused what they were doing. Some of them weren't from the Thunder Tribe, so they just waved or shouted at me to slow down before I hurt someone. Those that were from the Thunder Tribe and saw me, immediately stopped whatever they were doing and stared at me, wide-eyed, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

I wanted to stop and tell them everything, I just wanted to talk again. Being away from here for so long and having no one able to talk back or able to understand whatever I'm seeing does that . . . I guess.

But, I didn't stop. I kept going.

Soon, I was finally at the clearing in the forest. That's when I had to stop.

There were electric Pokémon everywhere! There were Electabuzz, Jolteon, Elekid, Electrike, Manectric, Voltorb, Electrode. . . every single electric kind was here! Even little baby Pichu ran around with fellow Pikachu and Raichu.

I know that I've seen this loads of times, but now it just seems. . . wow! Has it really been that long?

An Elekid was carrying some wood and walked right in front of me. He turned towards me, said hi, and kept walking . . . but then stopped.

The Elekid turned completely around until his full body was facing me. When he looked at me straight through, he dropped his wood that he was carrying with wide-eyes.

"Y-y-you're that missing P-P-Pikachu!" he exclaimed, almost shouting.

Well, he might as well have been shouting, because right when he said those words, people started to stop whatever they were doing and faced me.

Just as this Elekid did, as soon as they faced me, the stood wide-eyed and kept whispering, "He's back! He's back!"

Soon, it spread like wildfire across the entire territory. Everyone would stop what they were doing, listen to what the others were saying, then see me and exclaim it to others who didn't hear. It was wildfire!

In only moments, the whole tribe. . . my whole tribe. . . was silent. No one moved, but everyone's eyes were on me and only me. I could hear some of their whispers that they said to each other.

"He's back? But how?"

"I thought he was dead."

"Didn't he jump into a volcano?"

"He doesn't look burned."

"What the?! Where did he come from?!"

"I was almost for sure that he was dead."

I heard other whispers, but they were either too far away for me to hear them or too mumbled for me to understand them.

Everyone's eyes were on me. What should I say? What should I do?

Better yet: What will they do?

I saw some movement in the crowd and some small commotion coming rom the people who moved aside. From where I stood, it looked like a hole in the crowd was coming over to me.

The "hole" kept coming closer and closer, making more and more movement as it passed my others, until it was in front of me and out of the crowd.

It was a Jolteon. I remember his face very well.

He looked down at me, digging in his eyes that were filled with seriousness into mine. He stood as straight as a tree, and in a stance that could not be moved.

He spoke slowly and very clearly to me, almost as if he thought I have forgotten how to speak myself.

"Where have you been?" asked the Jolteon.

I stood there, staying quiet.

_Told you. . ._

"Where have you been?" repeated the Jolteon, raising his voice a little louder.

Everyone in the crowd was dead quiet. It was almost scary.

Still I stood, not saying a word. I don't want to lie, but it seems that even if I do it couldn't explain me being gone for so long.

"Where have you been?!" repeated the Jolteon again, almost to the point of shouting.

I have to say something, but what?

"I've been away," I finally said.

Jolteon tilted his head to the side a bit, being very suspicious about me.

"We know that, but where? Why have to been gone for so long? Most of us here thought you were dead," he said.

I hung my head down, trying to avoid his eyes.

"I know. I thought you might've thought that," I said.

"Well, we did. But please tell us where you've been. You got us all sick and worried for days, then you show up out of nowhere," he said. "Do you know how long we've been searching for you?"

I pulled my head back up.

"You all . . . looked for me?" I asked, surprised.

Jolteon nodded his head.

"Of course. We never want to lose anyone from this tribe or others," he explained. "We missed you, son."

"Son? I'm not your—"

"I call everyone that," Jolteon explained quickly, sounding annoyed at the question.

Wow. Everyone looked. . . just for me? Buneary said that every now and then someone would come to her tribe and ask about me, that was it.

"Did everyone look for me?" I asked.

The Jolteon didn't answer through words, instead he turned around and shouted to the crowd.

"Raise your paw if you helped the search!" he shouted.

Every hand and every paw went up from the entire tribe. I watched as their paws sprung up into the air. I was so surprised that my mouth was left open.

Jolteon told them that they could put down their paws, then turned back to me.

"You see? We were worried about you. Every single one of us here has searched in some kind of way for you," said Jolteon. "In fact, now that I think about it, some are back in the forest again looking right now as we speak."

"Who?" I asked.

As if on cue, more movement in the crowd started and another hole emerged. However, this hole was smaller, but faster then the one Jolteon made and seemed to be pushing the crowd away rather than wait for the people to move aside.

Quicker than the Jolteon before me, whoever came through the crowd and poked out their head just to see me.

It was an Eevee.

I gasped in joy.

This was no ordinary Eevee, but my best friend!

As soon as his small head poked out and saw me, his smile grew wide along with his eyes.

"It's you!" he said.

My best friend pounced out of the crowd, whizzing past the Jolteon, and landed right on me. He clung his arms around my neck and started licking me playfully while I was on my back.

"Hey!" I laughed playfully through the saliva. "Stop it, stop it! I just get here and already I'm on my back!"

He smiled, but didn't stop licking me, which was his mistake for he must've tasted how dirty my fur was and soon stopped.

My Eevee friend spat his tung out in discus.

"Ew! You taste like ash and mud," he said.

I laughed and pushed him off.

"It's good to see you again too," I said sarcastically when I was up.

"Now why is that?" asked the Jolteon. He must've been watching us the whole time.

"What? He's my best friend," I said.

Jolteon shook his head.

"Not that. You're friend said that you taste like mud and ash," he said.

The Jolteon walked up to me and sniffed a bit.

"You do have a smell of ash and rubble. . . even a scent of—"

Another sniff from him. He got really close to my chest and hands and sniffed. He paused, his face looked both confused and shocked at the same time.

However, his face quickly changed emotions and showed no trace of shock.

"Well, you have that smell of. . . um. . . salt too," said the Jolteon. "What would've made you smell like this?"

Need to think of something fast.

"I. . .um. . . swam a bit in the sea," I explained.

It was some of the truth, but I still cannot tell them the whole story.

"You were out at sea?" asked the Jolteon. "Are you telling me that for more than a week you were out in the sea?"

It defiantly did not sound logical, but maybe I could say something with would make it logical, but what? I don't like lying, but I do stretch the truth a lot.

"I. . .um. . ."

Got to think, got to think!

"Isn't it obvious?" said my friend, next to me.

Both me and the Jolteon's heads turned towards the Eevee.

"What's 'obvious'?" asked Jolteon.

"Well," started my Eevee friend. "Maybe he got on a boat and got lost at sea for awhile, right bud?"

The Eevee turned his head towards me with another smile. I quickly used this advantage and nodded my head.

It was half true. I suppose I did get somewhat lost when that dying Gyarados attacked us on the boat.

However, even with this somewhat logical explanation, the Jolteon before me was not convinced.

"You were out at sea for over a week and lived?" he asked.

"Hey!" defended my friend again. "You do know that you can live for over eighteen days without food? It's true you know."

Others in the crowd started to nod and accept the explanation. Jolteon turned and looked at them, as if not believing that they agreed.

Jolteon quickly turned back towards me.

"What about that smell of ash and rubble? How do you explain that?"

This time, even my friend could not think up of an answer. He turned towards me along with everyone else in the crowd, awaiting my answer.

Now what should I say?

_Try out the truth. After all, "for the truth will set you free."_

The truth? But if I told them the truth, then wouldn't that get me in trouble?

_Not if you only tell part of it._

Hm. . .maybe, but what part?

"I ran into a Decadence," I said.

Everyone in the crowd gasped.

A "Decadence" is what we called a Gyarados ready to die at sea, exactly like the one that I fought on the boat.

The Jolteon stared at me, still suspicious, but curious.

"You. . .ran into a Decadence?" he asked.

I nodded.

My friend next to me smiled again and nodded towards the Jolteon.

"See? He got lost at sea because a Decadence probably blew him off course," explained the Eevee.

Now, just about everyone in the crowd agreed to this explanation. It explained the salty smell (sea water), it explained the ash smell (an attack from the Decadence), and it explained why I was gone for so long. If I was a part of the crowd and was listening to this, I would've probably believed it too.

However, the Jolteon was still not convinced.

"I'll have to check with the Water Tribe and ask them if any of the Gyarados has or had been acting strange, but," he continued. "You are back and this is a blessing indeed. Let us bring you food and something to drink, for you must be hungry."

"Thank you," I said politely. "But the real reason why I came here is to see my mother. I heard that she was at the Spring of Healing."

"I know where that is!" said my friend beside me. "Let me go with you. It's been so long since we've talked."

I turned towards him and nodded with a smile. It has been awhile.

"Alright." Jolteon turned towards the crowd of electric Pokémon. "Okay, everyone! He's back! Spread this good news far and wide across the island so that everyone may know that he is safe!"

Jolteon dismissed the crowd, then turned back to me.

"I'm very happy that you are back, son," he said. "Now, I'm going to go over and talk to the Water Tribe. When I get back, I want to have a word with you."

A word with me?

"But," I started. "The water territory is a day walk from here." I turned towards my friend to double check. "Right?"

My friend thought about it for a bit, then nodded to me.

"I know," said the Jolteon.

And with that, he turned around and walked away.

* * *

"Who was that?" I asked my Eevee friend.

"Who?" he asked back.

"That Jolteon from before. Who was he?"

"Oh, him? You mean you don't remember him?"

"Well. . .no."

My friend turned his head towards me as if he thought I was joking.

After the whole commotion with my tribe, me and Eevee started walking over to the Spring of Healing.

On the way there, many people tried to stop us with their own questions and thoughts. Occasionally, there would be some people that would stop us just to say hello and how go it was to know that I was safe.

Eventually, we got into the forest that leads to the spring. Since we were out of the clearing, there was much less fellow Pokémon here and so much less stopping.

Eevee shrugged.

"I guess you have been away for a long time," he thought out loud. "Well, 'that Jolteon' is your tribe's leader. Now do you remember?"

Still walking next to him, I turned my head towards him with a shocked face.

"He's my tribe's leader?! Since when did this happen?" I asked.

My friend thought about it for a bit.

"Now that I think about it, right when you disappeared he became the new tribal leader," Eevee explained. "The leader commanded every tribe on the island to select a new tribal leader, and so the Jolteon was selected by everyone in the tribe."

"Everyone?" I asked.

"Well no, not everyone. Just the majority," he said.

"Then what happened to our last tribal leader?" I asked.

Eevee thought about it for a bit, then shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know that much. After all, this isn't my tribe," he joked.

"Speaking of which, why are you here in Thunder territory?"

He turned his head and faced me, but still walking.

"I was helping looking for you."

I stopped in my tracks. Even he was looking for me?!

The Jolteon said that everyone in my entire tribe searched for me. Just for me! And now I'm finding out that my own best friend even tried to find me.

Was everyone really that worried about me?

Eevee stopped walking when I stopped. He turned his body towards me, facing me.

"Don't be so surprised," my best friend said. "We missed you."

"But. . .why?" I asked. "Before I left, hardly anyone noticed me. Everyone would either ignore me or join my nemesis from the Rock Tribe in making fun of me. When I meet my teacher, the Raichu, to learn how to fight better, those that are jealous of me taunt me and call me names behind my back. Even in the Psychic Tribe, whenever I see my friend over there, everyone makes fun of me, calling me a 'want-a-be-psychic'."

Eevee shook his head and smiled.

"Maybe, but what about the people that did care about you?" he asked.

My mouth opened. . . then shut. I didn't know what to say.

My friend continued.

"What about your friend in the Psychic Tribe? What about your teacher? What about everyone else that ignores the Rock Tribe's chants like you do?" he said. "And what about me? Did you think I wouldn't have cared if you suddenly left?"

"Well. . .I—"

"And what about your mom?"

That one caught me completely off guard. Of course my mother out of all people would worry, but my mind was on everyone else that tormented me that I never even thought of her.

All of my friends. . .they all really did miss me. . .

"How do you think we got everyone to help look for you?" asked Eevee. "All of the people that do care about you came together and searched. One-by-one, more and more fellow Pokémon joined the search for you. You ask why? Because they remember who you are and what good you've done."

What good I've done? Have I really done some good here?

Eevee looked up into the sky. Even with all of the trees in the way, he was still able to see through them.

"It's starting to get late," said my best friend. "Lets get some rest, then in the morning we should reach the spring."

I agreed and went to find a good spot to sleep at.

I found one under one of the trees. The tree was slumped over to the side, so it was good shelter, but it was in the cold shade. That didn't matter much to me, though.

My friend wanted to sleep near me, so I said that was fine.

But, even when I tried to sleep, I still could not stop my head from thinking, _they really did miss me._

**I'm really sorry that this took so long to wirte. All kinds of things has been going on over here that I had to stop for about half a week or so (you see, I was in the hospital).**

**It's a long story, but i'm sure at least one of you are going to ask, "You were in the hospital?! What happened? Are you okay?"**

**To answer all of those questions, yes, I feel quite fine actually. I was in the hospital because the top of my eye (not the eye itself, but like that skin above it) started swelling up and hurting for no real reason. It swelled up so much over my eye that I couldn't even open it, so we went to the hospital. Turns out, no one knew what it was, but they were pretty sure that it was some kind of sinus infection beneath the skin over my eye.**

**So, now ya'll know most of the story. Sorry again and I hope that ya'll liked this chapter (even though it didn't have any action in it).**


	11. Day Ten

War of Hope Day 10

I was laying down on a field of soft grass. . .the softest grass imaginable. . .

I slowly breathed in the fresh morning air, savoring it, and then let it all out. My, what a beautiful day.

My love laid next to me, watching me this whole time with her paw on my chest. She giggled as I relaxed in the soft grass. It was as if I did this all of the time and it amused her.

I turned my head to face her. She was smiling a very warm smile, and I returned it with my own.

My love pulled me closer to her, wanting to have that gift of touch, and cuddled with me, all the while giggling even more.

I chuckled back.

When she was done giggling, she inclined her head towards mine and gave me a lick. It wasn't just a lick, though. It wasn't a "good night" kind of lick or a "hello" kind of lick nor was it even a friendly kind of lick. It was a lick that was oh so soft and so. . . delicate.

She licked me passionately, savoring every moment of it as if it was her last, and did so with the most love behind it. I purred as I felt it. . .and boy had it been awhile since I last purred.

Then, she shocked me with something else. . .she licked me again. Even if she did it more passionately than before, I could not tell, for I was just so at ease and so happy that a simple hug from her would make me feel like. . .like. . .like. . .

Like everything was finally okay.

I cuddled with her even more, getting myself closer and getting my body both comfortable and warm underneath her soft fur.

Maybe. . .just maybe. . . everything was okay.

Now, I found myself leaning forward. My head was moving closer to my love's.

Then before I knew it, I was licking her own cheek, just as passionat—

BANG!

An ear-splitting noise came out of nowhere. What was that?

I looked around, but could see nothing but the soft grass around us. I turned back to my love. . .but what I saw is what startled me.

In my love's eyes. . .was nothing. Complete emptiness. I could no longer see those happy feelings, those cheerful eyes, that love that would pour out of her. . .it was all gone.

Then. . .she fell limp to my side. I quickly got up to my feet and went to see what was wrong with her.

It didn't take me long to figure it out.

There. . .in her back. . .was a large red hole. . .just like the holes that I have seen too many times before. . .

But. . .how? How did this happen?

I turned around. . .and there was a RAM solider, standing in front of me. . .pointing his gun straight at my head.

BANG!

* * *

I jolted up awake where I was sleeping. My chest heaved up and down rapidly without stop. My whole body was shaking and sweating all over.

What happened? Where am I? What's going on?

I did a quick scan around me. Right now, I was still in the forest, underneath the slumped tree.

Something very comfortable was on my head and back, though. . .and it was very warm too.

I took a glace behind me, expecting the worst-case scenario. . .when it was just my Eevee friend. He must've put my head on him so I could have a comfortable sleep.

The Eevee himself was still asleep. His stomach was on the ground and he rested his head on top of his crossed paws.

I looked down at my sleeping friend, then I took another scan around. There were some bug Pokémon flying around or climbing the trees, but just about everything else was silent.

It was just a dream. . .It was just a dream. . .

_Maybe just a dream, but maybe these dreams are telling you something._

Like what? What could explain that female Pikachu that always loves me?

_Don't know. . .but think about the RAM. You haven't had a dream of them for awhile. Maybe this is supposed to mean something._

Maybe. . .but what could it mean?

"Hmm. . .already awake?"

I looked back behind me. My Eevee friend seemed to be awaking up.

"Good morning," I said to him, trying to act as if I wasn't scarred that something really bad was going to happen at any second.

"Mornin," he said lazily, trying to wake himself up. "Have a gnight's sleep?"

I almost laughed at his slurred words. He was still so tried that he couldn't talk straight. . .boy nothing has changed about him yet.

"I. . .well," I started to say, trying to think of the right words. "Not exactly a good sleep, but. . ."

Now, my friend looked up at me, waking himself up.

"'Not a good sleep'?" he said. "What's wrong?"

I scratched the back of my head.

"Well. . .I kinda had a nightmare. . ."

"Really? What did you dream about?" he asked.

I was about to answer him, but my thoughts wouldn't let me.

_You can't tell him what you dreamed about. That would tell him that you've been with the humans!_

Yeah, but I hate having to lie to him. . .he's my best friend. I shouldn't be lying to him at all. I should be telling him everything, knowing that he would be the best one to keep a secret.

_Could he? After all, this is very big! You've done one of the worst things possible: going to human territory and even taking a living human back to your home. How can he keep such a secret?_

I sighed to myself. My friend must've noticed for he said to me, "You okay, bud?"

"Oh." I had not noticed that I actually did that in front of him. "Um, yeah. I'm fine."

"You sure?" he asked again, concerned.

I nodded my head with a weak smile.

"Okay. . .if you say so. . ." he said. "But you still haven't told me what you dreamed about. Was it really bad?"

"Well. . .yeah. . .but. . ."

I had trouble finding the right words. I didn't want to lie, but I knew I can't tell him. . .or maybe I just can't tell him yet.

"But. . .what?" my Eevee friend asked.

I thought quickly. I should tell him. He's my best friend and he should know. After all, he was the one that really looked for me while I was gone.

"Um. . .can you keep a secret?" I asked him.

As soon as I said that, my friend's emotions clicked and he inclined his head towards mine.

"Of course, bud. I'm always here for you," he whispered with a smile.

I smiled back, but as I was about to whisper it in his ear. . .I hesitated.

"Um. . .I'll tell you later," I eventually said.

My friend looked somewhat disappointed that I wouldn't tell him yet, but he quickly smiled again and nodded his head.

"Okay, that's fine," the Eevee said. "We should start walking over to the spring, that way maybe we could even have some time to bathe!"

I smiled back at my friend, and this time it was a full smile.

"'Walk'?" I said.

"Yeah," he said back.

"Nah, that takes too long," I said sarcastically, waving my paw as if dismissing the idea. "How about we race?"

The Eevee immediately crouched down low, already ready.

"Sounds good to me," he said with an evil grin, thinking that he was going to win.

I smiled myself and got down on all of my paws.

"First one to the spring wins," I called.

"Deal," he said quickly, wanting to run.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Set," he said.

"GO!" we shouted in union and dashed off through the dense forest.

It felt as if I was about to fly off the ground. I had never realized how fast I have gotten over the past few days.

Usually, it was my friend who would win in any competition considering agility. I have always remembered him mainly by his speed. He would leap across any obstacle before you could even take a breath.

However, now I was quickly catching up to him. Yes, he did get a better start than I did, but I was gaining more and more speed by each and every moment.

Eventually, I ran straight up to his side. The running Eevee looked over his shoulder and saw me exactly next to him. He looked so shocked that I though he would've tripped at any moment without even noticing.

I grinned at him, using his shock to my advantage, and sped forward.

However, there was a sharp turn coming up. Making the turn was a cluster of trees that were very close together, just about closing every gap between them.

Now that I looked at the bunch of trees. . .they kind of reminded me of the old metal back in the human territory. . .

That's it!

I continued to run towards the trees at full speed. My friend started to slow only a little bit so he could slide down the turn and use the momentum to keep him going, just like he always did.

I ran a little to the side. Right as the trees came in, the Eevee slid on his paws, making a small amount of dust fill the air, while I leaped up onto the trees themselves. . .and kept on running.

I was literally running of the trunks of the trees, using them just like that day that I first met Matt and attacked him by using the nearby piece of metal. I might've not done it like this, but it was. . .somewhat similar.

When I stepped on the last tree, I planted both of my feet into the trunk of it and pushed my body straight up (which would be forward, since I was sideways anyhow) making me fly through the air for a couple of moments.

I actually flew ahead of my running friend and landed back on the ground. As soon as my feet touched the dirt, I propelled myself forward and continued running.

Everything was just too easy now! I guess I was so used to running away from bullets on hard, black, metallic ground that running on soft dirt and grass was as easy as walking through a clearing.

Whenever I saw a rock, it was just like a piece of littered metal that I had to run on and used it to make me go even faster. Whenever I saw a good tree, it was just like the walls at the Freedom Fighters' hideout or a tall piece of scrap for me to jump off of. My Eevee friend must've been so shocked by how fast I was going that I think he even slowed down!

A few twists and turns later I could already feel the air around me getting warm. A couple more moments of sprinting later, and I could finally see the hot spring.

Finally, I slowed down to a stop and turned behind me. My friend was a ways off, but not too much, so I just waited a bit for him to catch up with me.

When he did eventually reach me, he was completely out of breath.

"H-how. . .did. . .you. . .?" It was hard for him to talk because he had to stop and breathe between each word.

Shockingly, I didn't feel as tired. I mean, yes, I was breathing a bit hard, but not even as close to how much my friend was. I wasn't even sweating yet!

"Um. . .good exercise?" I said, scratching the back of my head, shyly.

The Eevee eyed me sarcastically, then just rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he said. "I went easy on you anyhow."

I laughed and rolled my own eyes. Yeah, right!

When we stopped laughing, I turned towards the spring. It was defiantly a hot spring, for there was a thick mist floating above it and the heat could be felt a ways away.

There were a couple Pokémon already there: A Slowbro, a Roselia, some Mightyena, a Absol, and even some Espeon and Umbreon. Most of them were just sitting in the spring, relaxing in the hot water, while others bathed in the water underneath the waterfall that emptied into the spring.

"Do you see her?" I asked my friend.

"Who? Your mom?" he asked.

"Yes, my mom! Who else?" I said, slightly annoyed.

The Eevee's ears went down a bit.

"I'm sorry. . ." he said.

I sighed.

"It's fine. It's just. . .I've been really worried about her for a long time, you know?"

My friend nodded his head.

"Yeah, I understand," he said. "Lets go look around. She's bound to be here somewhere."

Well, we looked around the spring, but it was difficult to find someone in the thick, hot mist. Sometimes, I kept bumping into other Pokémon that were just laying down in the water, out of my eye sight.

Eventually, we were able to find her. My friend called me out and I followed his voice until I was right in front of him.

"Did you find her?" I asked.

"Yep," he said with a nod.

The Eevee turned his head in a certain direction. I followed his gaze until I saw what he saw.

It was my mother. She was at the very shore of the spring, half of her body was out of the water while the other half was in it. She laid her head on the dirt behind her with her bottom half soaking in the hot, cleansing water.

She was still as beautiful as before. Her yellow fur still smooth and slick, her shape perfect compared to most other Pikachu her age, and still completely fit.

Even though she still looked good physically, just by looking at her face I could see the horrible pain she must be in. Her eyes, though closed right now, were shut tightly together, as if trying to fight off the pain. Her whole body was tensed, so tensed in fact that I could even see a couple veins popping out. Even her breathing was quick and short as her chest lifted and dropped rapidly.

But. . .she was alive. That's all that mattered to me right now.

Then, I saw some water being poured over her head. It wasn't in a harsh way, but in a relaxing, cleansing way.

I followed where the water came from and saw a pair of cupped paws pouring the water. The paws belonged to a tall, male Lucario.

"What's he doing?" I said rather quickly.

My friend, still next to me, shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe he's helping taking care of your mom. That's what it kinda looks like," he said with another shrug.

I watched some more. Indeed, it did look as if this Lucario was helping my mother. He would cup his paws in the water and pour it back on my mother's head. She kept leaning her head closer to the water, as if just asking for something to take away the pain.

Then, the Lucario kneeled down next to the top of my mother's head and began to rub her shoulders with his paws. He would rub her arms, her chest, her stomach, and very softly on her bright red cheeks. Being a Pikachu myself and just by watching the Lucario, it was almost as if I could feel how good it felt to be rubbed just right on the cheeks.

"Maybe," I finally said. "But I have to talk to her myself."

"Okay," said my Eevee friend. "I'll just be over here if you need me. I have a feeling that you might want to be alone with her anyway."

I nodded and thanked him. He smiled back to me, then laid down in the relaxing water.

After rolling my eyes, I walked towards my mother.

Boy has it been a long time since I've been wanting to say that again!

Soon I was right next to her. As I looked at her closely, I could see even more details that she was in pain. Every single muscle was tensed. Her breathing was let out in not one breath, but several. Every now and then, she would bare her teeth in pain and I could see that her mouth had some blood in it. Another teeth-bare and I could see that all of the blood came from her own tung. She must've bitten down on her tung so much from the pain that she made it bleed.

I thought I was going to cry.

The Lucario was about to dip his paws back in the water again, but stopped when he saw me next to my mother.

"Excuse me," he said, very politely. "Can I help you?"

I quickly whipped away the tears that were starting to form in my eyes.

"Um. . .no, I'm fine. I. . .I just need to talk to her," I said.

The Lucario looked confused.

"I'm sorry, sir, but this Pikachu is very, very, il—"

"That voice."

Both me and the Lucario stopped and turned towards my mother. She was talking!

She moved slowly. . .oh so slowly. Her head turned towards me and slowly. . .slowly and (I was sure) painfully. . .she opened her eyes.

And she gasped with a smile forming in her lips.

"My son. . ."

She held her arms out to me. . . and I embraced her tightly.

"Mother. . ." Was all I was able to say.

My voice was choked back by tears that now flooded my eyes. I let them out, for they were meant to wash away all the bad and cleanse the good.

My mother cried with me.

"My son. . .!" she breathed out in small gasps. "My son. . .oh, how I missed you. . ."

I hung to her. It felt like forever since I have last done this, and I've been looking forward to it for days.

After just me standing there hugging her, and her still laying down hugging me, the Lucario cleared his throat.

I brought myself away from my mother and looked at him, then understood.

I slowly released my mother and laid her carefully back down on the shore.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this. . .um. . .occasion," said the Lucario. "But I have to say that this Pikachu is indeed very ill, so if you would pleas—"

"It's fine," said my mother. "This is my son here."

"Your son?!" repeated the Lucario, sounding just like everyone else that had heard the news. "B-but I thought. . ."

I looked up to him and smiled.

"Well, apparently I'm not," I said, sarcastically.

Now the Lucario was caught off. He wasn't sure what to say next.

"B-but. . .everyone said. . .even she said. . ."

When he said "she", he must've been referring to my mother.

Now I was curious.

"What did everyone say?" I asked.

Lucario looked a bit uncomfortable in the situation he had gotten himself into.

"Well. . .that. . ." he started. "That. . .you were dead."

I turned towards my mother.

"You thought I was dead?" I asked.

She slowly shook her head.

"Of course not, my son," she said. "That is what everyone else thought."

"Then what did you think?" I asked.

She looked at me oddly.

"I knew that you were going to be okay. . .but that could not keep me from worrying about you," she said. "But where have you been all this time? I'm too old to be worried about my only son disappearing."

"You're not old," I said, speaking both truthfully and attempting to change the subject.

For some reason, I've noticed that all mothers, no matter what the age, always say that they're "too old". My own mother was actually quiet young compared to most other child-baring Pokémon.

She smiled at me.

"Thank you," she said. "But you still haven't answered my question."

I hesitated. Now even the Lucario was wanting to know what happened.

"I'll tell you later," I told her eventually.

She looked at me disappointedly. . .but then suddenly tensed up again from pain that I could not see. The Lucario noticed it too and started to rub her shoulders again.

She bared and clenched her teeth together for a bit, trying her best not to scream and hold in the pain. . .then she relaxed. . .but only a bit.

"Hm. . .thank you. . ." she breathed to the Lucario rubbing her.

He smiled down at her.

"You're very welcome, ma'am," he said.

I looked up at the Lucario as he helped my mother.

"Who are you?" I asked.

He looked up at me.

"Who? Me?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Why, I am the one that was told to watch over this fine Pikachu."

"By who?"

"By the nurse from the MCIP, of course."

The nurse? Well, it does sound like her, but she never told me of anyone that was watching my mother.

"How long have you been watching her?" I asked.

He thought for a moment, but didn't cease the massage he was giving.

"I suppose. . .about three or four days," he finally said.

"That long?" I asked. "Right here?"

The Lucario nodded his head.

"Mm hm. These waters are known for healing sicknesses, you should know that," he said.

"Yeah, I know, but. . .always here in the water? For four days?" I asked, slightly astounded.

He chuckled.

"No, not always in the water," he explained. "Sometimes I would take her out and lay her on the ground and try to massage her a bit to make her feel a bit better. Sometimes, she wants to walk again and I would help her to walk. She has to eat of course, so I would take her out and feed her. Then, sometimes I have to help her. . .um. . .go."

"Go?" I asked.

"Yes. . .you know. . ._go_," he said, stressing the word "go".

And I asked no more about that subject.

"So. . .um. . .is she doing okay?" I asked.

The Lucario hesitated. . .then looked down at my mother. All of the pain she was having before must've gotten her so tired that she fell asleep during Lucario's massage in the water.

After seeing that my mother was asleep, the Lucario looked back up at me and answered.

"She's doing much worse than before," he said. "The nurse is still surprised that she has made it this far! The only explanation that we can think of that has kept her alive for so long is mainly. . .will power. . .and hope."

Hope? Has that been keeping my mother alive?

The Lucario continued.

"When you disappeared, that didn't help her at all. She's had many very close calls, but somehow she held onto life. Whether or not from my help, I could not tell."

The Lucario moved his paws down my mother's body and started to softly rub her chest and belly with another massage while she slept.

"Just by watching this poor soul, I can see the pain she has to go through. Every day and night she gets like this, all tensed up and bitting herself just to stop the pain. Her tung is filled with scars she made herself. That virus is literally killing her from the inside-out."

"Not for long," I said.

Lucario looked back up at me, still massaging.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I said, 'not for long'. She's going to be better, I know it," I said.

"And what makes you think that?" the Lucario asked.

"Because I found the cure," I said blankly.

The Lucario stopped his massage.

"The cure?"

He shook his head.

"Look, I'm really sorry about your mother, but there is no cure."

"Yes there is!" I said. "I found it and she's going to get better!"

"Hey, calm down there," he said. "What is the 'cure' then? Since you're so sure."

I was about to say it. . .but then I stopped.

_You just leaped into a hole. . .again. If you tell him that you found the Blue Bonnet, then he'll know that you went into the human territory! Too many people know about it as it is!_

I know, I know! I just. . .I just had to remind myself.

_Remind yourself of what?_

That there is still hope.

I stayed quiet. The Lucario must've taken my quietness as a way of giving up on his question.

"See? There is no cure!" he said.

The Lucario sighed and got back down to massaging my mother, but this time on her arms and feet in the water.

"Look, I'm not trying to discourage you or anything, I'm just telling you the truth. Trust me, I want her to live just as bad as you do, but it's just impossible right now. . ."

He sighed again.

"Maybe," I said. "But that doesn't mean that we should just give up on her."

The Lucario nodded his head.

"True, very true," he said. "And I haven't given up on her either."

Lucario stopped his massage and picked up my mother out of the water, then he cradled her in his arms.

"Now, please leave," said the Lucario. "She is tired and needs rest. You can come back anytime if you want to see her."

* * *

I waded back over to where I last left my Eevee friend. He was still there, but he was on his back in the water with his belly up and his legs spread out, asleep. His mouth was the only thing that stuck out of the water.

The little guy was relaxing in the hot spring.

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

I waded through the water and poked him with my foot to wake him up. Lazily, he finally opened his eyes and looked up at me.

"Hey," he said, still laying down in the hot water.

"Hey, yourself," I said sarcastically. "Come on, get up, please."

The Eevee groaned a bit, but slowly got back up to his four feet and stood in front of me.

"How long has it been?" he asked, sleepily.

I looked up. The trees blocked most of the view to the sky, but I could make out where the sun was.

The sun was already descending on the other side of the sky, ready to go back into the earth.

"It's been awhile, I guess," I said. "But I got to do what I wanted to do."

"You got to talk to your mom?" asked my friend.

I nodded.

The Eevee yawned loudly, then stretched out his back and legs.

"So. . ." he said as he yawned. When he was done, he talked again. "How is she? Is your mom alright?"

"She'll be fine," I said, but really thinking _I hope _in the back of my head.

"You sure?" asked my friend.

I, unsurely, nodded to him.

My Eevee friend once again yawned. When he was done, he noticed that he was almost soaking wet, so he began shaking his body so hard and so fast, that all of the water on him flung away, keeping him dry. I had to cover my face just to make sure that none of that water would hit my eyes or anything.

"Hey! Quit that!" I shouted at him, playfully.

He didn't quit. When he was finally dried up, I was just about soaked from his own water. My friend saw this and laughed his heart out.

"I'm sorry, bud," He said, still laughing.

I rolled my eyes and walked out of the water, then I dried myself off just as the Eevee did. However, I did it much faster and there wasn't as much water on me to start with, so I dried off quickly.

My friend kept laughing as he walked out of the spring next to me. Soon, he calmed himself down and looked at me.

"So. . .now what?" he asked.

I thought about that. I've pretty much done all that I had to do: got the Blue Bonnet, gave it to the nurse so she could make an antidote, and even talk to my mother before anything bad happens.

Now what?

I mind popped with the answer. Matt.

I've been away from him for too long. What could've happened to him? That Buneary girl might've forgotten that he can eat again. . .

But what if he got out? What if someone has seen him?

What if he got hurt?

Once again, it was something that I just could not risk.

I looked back over at my friend when I was done thinking.

"Can you keep a secret?" I asked him.

Now, his attention was fully on me. He turned his whole body towards me just to show it.

"Of course. Is this secret the same secret you were going to tell me later?" He asked.

I nodded my head.

"But I can't tell you. . .I have to show you first," I said.

* * *

Instead of walking the long way back towards my tribe's territory, we walked through the forest.

If I went back to my tribe, then I would have to go through the small forest, through the clearing that the MCIP is in, and then go through another forest which holds the cave that Matt is in. However, if I went straightforward through the forest that holds the Spring of Healing, then that would lead me and my friend straight into the clearing that has the MCIP, and from there we should make it back to the cave before sundown.

The only trick is that the trees are very dense in there and that it is very easy to get lost. Thankfully, my Eevee friend had already memorized just about the whole forest after trying to look for me in it so many times.

We need to get back to the cave as soon as possible, so to speed it up a bit, I challenged my friend to a race. At first, he kept recalling how badly I had beaten him the last time, but eventually he just couldn't give up on a challenge.

We dashed out of the forest in no-time. While I raced my friend, I just stayed behind him so he could lead the way out after I told him where we're going.

When we dashed in the clearing, I quickly picked up some more speed and sprinted past the MCIP and back into the forest that held the cave.

It took me a while to remember which ways the Buneary went to take me and Matt to the cave as I raced Eevee. She was very clever in choosing the spot, because I wouldn't even have thought of going there or finding it anytime soon.

But, I was able to find it, and what timing we had made it there! A trip that took me about a day or two was just cut in more than half!

There was the cave that I remembered. I slowed down to a stop in front of it and waited for my friend to catch up. The poor Eevee had never ran so far or so fast in all of his life that he breathed in gasps of air like they were his last. He walked up next to me, in front of the cave, and collapsed on the ground. I myself was very tired, but not to his extent.

"You okay, bud?" I chuckled at him.

He must've been so tired that he didn't even want to waste the energy to talk, because instead of actually saying something to me, he just groaned.

I rolled my eyes.

I walked into the cave and looked around. Everything looked the same. . .but there was something different.

_Something always goes wrong._

True that. I guess that's just my luck these days.

But I just couldn't find anything different in the cave. . .there were some berries still laying on the ground, some of the moss was kicked around, but not much.

Then I realized and slapped myself on the head. That Buneary girl and Matt the human aren't here!

"Where did they go?!" I almost shouted out the words.

I might as well have, for my friend must've noticed the urgency in my voice.

"What? What's wrong?" Ironically, he still has enough energy to worry.

I turned towards my friend.

"They're not here! They were supposed to still be here!" I said, thinking about all of the worst case scenarios.

The Eevee lifted up his head so he could face me.

"Who was here? And why are you so worried now?" he asked me. "Not too long ago, you were sick and worried about your mom, and now this? You're going to get some kind of. . .mental problem or something if you don't calm down soon."

Calm down? I guess I have been a bit tense lately. . .but for good reason! I'm sure he would be just as tense, if not, twice as tense as me. I just have a lot of things to worry about. . .and Matt not being here has just been added to the list.

"Look," I sighed. "I have to go find some. . .friends of mine that were supposed to be here and it is every important that they are here. We have to go look for them."

"No 'we' don't," said my friend. "Just rest for right now, we can go find them in the morning."

"But, you don't understand! If someone sees Matt than who knows what is going—"

I stopped my sentence. Already I had said too much.

Now my Eevee friend was looking at me every seriously. It was as if all of his tiredness had gone away suddenly.

"What's a 'Matt'?" he said.

Great. Once again, I had jumped into another hole and can't get out.

_Well, you did want to tell him the truth. Why not tell him now?_

No. Not now. With him, I have to have proof. After all, this is the friend that doesn't believe in humans at all. He's the one that told me they were just fairy-tails! That's why I wanted to show him Matt and not just tell him.

_Then maybe just stay here and lay low with your friend for awhile. Maybe he'll be willing to move tomorrow._

But why tomorrow? By that time Matt could've already have been seen and killed for all I know. Besides, I could just look for Matt by myself, I don't have to have Eevee with me.

_But he's your friend. Are you really just going to leave him behind?_

I looked over at my friend. Has time really changed me so much? Was I really thinking of just leaving him? Before we used to do everything together: share secrets, play games, make fun of each other, take care of each other. . .what was I thinking? I can't let someone else ruin my old friendship.

But then what about Matt? I just can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen to him.

"Look," started my friend, ripping me from my thoughts. "We can go look for whoever or whatever in the morning after we get some sleep. All of that running has killed me! I'm still surprised that you aren't tired either!"

I looked away from him. Waiting till morning was simply too long!

My friend sighed and spoke again.

"Hey, if someone has left, they would probably be looking for somewhere to sleep too. It's getting late as it is," he encouraged.

"But what if someone sees him?" I asked.

The Eevee rose up to his feet, walked over to my side, and sat down next to me.

"I'm not sure why you're so worried about this one person, but if it's really bad that someone does see this little secret of yours, don't worry about it!"

I turned my head towards him, giving him a "How?" look.

"Look, everyone is either spreading the news that your back or getting ready for the tournament. No one is going to be looking or anything, and even if they would see something, they would be too busy to notice."

"Well," I started. "I guess so, but. . .wait. . .a tournament?"

Now, my friend looked at me confusingly.

"What do you mean?" He asked me. "Have you forgotten about it?"

I was still lost.

He sighed and explained.

"Remember? It's the tournament we have on the day right before mating season starts. They've been doing it ever since we were little! Remember now?"

I do remember something like that. The island would hold a large tournament, containing all of the tribes around in a all-out brawl for victory. The Elders would say that the first Pokémon that came to this island made the tournament in a way to remember how it felt like to battle next to their takers. . .no, "trainers"!

Now I do remember it. . .but that also brings up another question.

"Wait, what did you say?" I asked.

"What? About remembering it?" he asked.

"No, before that."

"That they've been doing the tournament ever since we were little?"

"No, before that."

I was getting annoyed.

"That it's the tournament that they have all the time on the day before the start of mating season?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "It's mating season?!"

My friend chuckled next to me.

"You really have forgotten everything haven't you?" he said, sarcastically. "But technically it's not mating season yet. . . it will be after the tournament it done. . .remember?"

"Uh. . .no. . .but. . .is it really almost mating season?" I asked nervously.

The Eevee smiled. He laid down on his back against the moss on the floor of the cave with his belly up.

"No."

"No? It's not? But you just said it was!"

"It is."

My friend laughed. I just frowned and groaned.

"Well, is it almost mating season or not?" I asked, annoyed.

"Yes! Yes it is!" He said, not getting up. "I just wanted to play around with you since you're so up-tight about it. . .why are you so tense about it anyway?"

Why? There is a lot of reasons why. First, Matt has disappeared and could be anywhere by now; second, someone could see Matt and freak out; third, I'm afraid that someone else might find out what my secret is and where I've been, and now I have to worry about mating.

Personally, I'm not looking forward to mating at all. I'm just not ready for it. The whole having-a-offspring thing doesn't work for me very well, and being that close to a female is just too uncomfortable with me.

"Well. . .it's just. . .just, stop changing the subject!" I said, trying to avoid the question.

I sighed.

"Alright, fine. We'll sleep here, then look for Ma—I mean, what I want to show you—tomorrow," I said.

The Eevee started to laugh.

"What?" I asked.

He turned his head towards me with a sly grin.

"I know what you're trying to avoid," he said with a wink. "You'll find a girl. I know you will."

**I'm so, so, so sorry for this taking so long! Actually, I had this up and ready long before now, but it's just because I've been grounded and we got a new, faster internet (finally) and it took me awhile to figure it out...**

**Once again, i'm so sorry! I hope that this can repay some of it. Maybe I'll try to squeeze in some action in the next chapter for ya'll, how's that sound? lol**


	12. Day Eleven

War of Hope Day 11

I didn't dream that night. . .or the dream that I did have wasn't much. It was just me climbing a mountain. Nothing else to it, really.

As soon as I woke up and realized where I was and what was going on, I remembered Matt and all of the worse possible things that either could've happened or could happen.

Eevee was asleep right next to me, so I woke him up as well and told him to get ready to go. Of course, he was still very sleepy and hardly moved thanks to his half-asleep stage. He mumbled a couple of words that I couldn't even understand and staggered up to his feet.

My friend opened one eye while the other was only half opened.

"Why so early?" he asked me once he could talk again.

I was already beginning to exit the cave that we slept in when he finished that sentence.

"Because I want to find my friend before someone finds him," I explained, turning back to face him.

Eevee let out a big yawn, blinked a couple times, then finally trotted over to me.

"You're still all worried about your friend, huh?" he asked.

I quickly nodded and turned towards the exit of the cave.

"Hurry up, lets go!"

"Go where? Where are we going?"

I thought about that for awhile. Where can I look for Matt? The island is pretty big. . .and if someone did see a human, there probably would be a lot of commotion.

Well, Matt was last with Buneary. Maybe she took him somewhere? But if so, where?

"Hm. . ." I thought. "Lets try looking in the MCIP. Is that okay?"

The Eevee scratched his chin with his hind leg, yawned one more time, then nodded his head.

"Sure, why not?" he said with a smile. "Who knows? Maybe this could turn into a little adventure! I've always wanted to go on a real adventure!"

Adventure. . .The word means so much right now. I suppose I'm on my own little adventure right now. Humans, RAM, the Freedom Fighters, the Decadence, my mother, everything. It's all been an adventure.

_But it's also been a very dangerous adventure._ _Many times you have seen death, himself, creep up to you._

True, that is very true. To this day, the images of seeing those RAM soldiers killed right in front of me. . .the ones who died in cold blood. . .still haunts my mind.

Maybe this adventure is nothing like what my Eevee friend thinks of as an adventure. His "adventure" is pictured as saving innocent lives, beating up the bad guys, seeing places he had never seen before, helping people like a true hero. . .while mine is filled with blood, killing, vengeance, rebellion, running, screaming, and innocent lives being taken away from you.

Is this a real adventure?

"Hey, you okay there, buddy?"

I snapped out of it and looked over at my friend. He was giving me a very worried look.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine," I reassured him. "Just. . .kinda dosed off there for a bit."

Eevee still gave me that worried look.

"You sure? For awhile there. . .you looked kinda. . .depressed."

"I did?" I asked. "Oh. . .well, I guess I'm just worried about my missing friend right now."

Eevee still gave me that look, so I tried to reassure him again with a smile.

"Why are you so worried about this one friend of yours?" Eevee finally said.

_He's got you now._

I thought long and hard about what to say to that. All I could think of was, "You'll understand when you see him."

Eevee sighed and shook his head.

I hated to just keep him like this. . .but I didn't have time to only worry about how he felt.

I told him once more to move, and we were off. We moved in a fast trot, not wanting to get tired at so early in the morning, but wanting to gain some ground faster than walking. By doing this, we were able to make it to the MCIP by late sunrise.

We saw a couple of fellow Pokémon on the way there, but most of them were busy handling large wood, leaves and branches of sorts, and all sizes of rocks. Barely any of them took their time to even look over at us. I guess my friend was right.

Me and Eevee entered the MCIP. It looked the same way as before, just that some bottles and tubes were laying on the ground in a few places.

I looked around the hut for Chansey.

"Nurse?" I called out. "Nurse!"

Soon, the Chansey popped out her head from one of the doors that led into different rooms in the hut.

"Yes?" she asked.

I went straight to the point and asked if she knew where Matt was.

"Who?" asked the nurse.

"Matt," I said again.

She paused. . .then lit back up in remembrance.

"Oh! You mean the—"

"Shh!"

I placed my paw over my mouth and inclined my head to point towards my Eevee friend behind me. The nurse immediately knew what I meant, so she didn't say the rest.

"He's in here," she said.

"He is?" I asked, relieved. "Why did you bring him in here?"

"It wasn't me. It was your Buneary friend," said the nurse, beckoning me towards the door.

I walked over to the door, but paused before I walked in.

"Buneary? She brought Matt here? Why?" I asked the nurse.

The nurse's look changed right there. She looked very worried and very confused at the same time.

"You will soon see for yourself," said the nurse, and led me in.

When Eevee began to walk towards the door, the nurse stopped him in his tracks, not wanting to reveal the secret. I had to go up to the Chansey and tell her that I trusted him and that he needed to see as well. Of course, she questioned me, but all I told her was that he was my best friend. I hated to keep secrets from him.

Finally, the nurse sighed and allowed the Eevee in. His face looked very confused after hearing our small argument, but just as soon as I saw Matt's body, Eevee's eyes grew the same size as his head.

There, sitting up on his bottom, was Matt the human. He looked the same as before to me, just without his shirt (from us having to rip it off to get his heart back up again). Buneary stood beside him.

Matt looked over to me and smiled and shouted out "Pikachu!". I tried to smile back, but something about all of this made me feel like something was wrong.

"I-i-is th-th-that. . ." started my Eevee friend, but was having trouble finishing his sentence.

I turned to the nurse.

"So, what's wrong with him?" I asked.

Before the nurse could answer, Buneary raised up a paw, telling her that she will answer it and told me her story.

"Well, while you were gone, it—I mean, he—started to act weird. . .especially the night before in the cave. So, I brought him here."

"What was he doing that was weird?" I asked.

"It's it really a. . .a. . .a. . .?"said Eevee.

"Well. . ."

Buneary seemed to be having trouble thinking of the right words.

Eevee was still mumbling his words, still awestruck. Matt, however, seemed a bit. . .tired. . .he looked as if he didn't get any sleep at all last night or the night before. And now that I looked at him a bit more closely. . .he seemed a bit yellow.

"It's kind of hard to explain this, but basically. . .he started shooting static everywhere," explained Buneary.

"Static?" I asked. "You mean like. . .electricity?"

Buneary nodded.

"Yes, something like that," she said.

"They're real?. . .and they don't have tails?" commented Eevee, still flattered to see a human.

I had to pause to think about this.

"Wait, wait, wait. . .Matt just started shooting out electricity?" I asked.

"Well," started Buneary again. "At first, he started to groan a bit and grabbed his side. . .then he began screaming in pain. . .then finally he fell down to the ground on his hip while all of this. . .yellow electricity began shooting out of him everywhere."

Yellow electricity? But. . .I've never seen any of the humans back at the human territory do anything like that. Wouldn't the RAM attack me like that if they had the chance? I probably had the advantage because of my electricity. . .

So, then. . .how can Matt be doing what only the people of the Thunder Tribe can do?

"It just started shooting everywhere? Randomly?" I asked.

Another nod from Buneary. So, I asked her what happened after that.

"Well, after awhile of hiding any way I could, he stopped. . .but he didn't look good at all."

Buneary walked over to Matt, who had been sitting down this whole time, and pointed to a spot on Matt's side.

"His body was glowing yellow here,—"

Buneary pointed to Matt's chest where his heart was.

"here —"

Then she pointed to a spot on Matt's leg.

". . .and here."

Matt had been watching Buneary point to the spots, and he noticed something that I had as well.

"Those were the spots that I got shot!" said Matt. "Well. . .except for my chest. . ."

"That's right," I said. "The two spots you pointed at were where Matt was shot by the RAM. . .but why would they be glowing?"

". . .He has no fur. . .no claws. . .but they're real!"

Now the nurse spoke.

"After this Buneary saw this, she brought the human here so I could examine him. I noticed a few things odd about this body behavior," she said.

The nurse walked over to a wall on the side of the hut, and picked up something off of the ground. She held it up for me and everyone else to see.

It was a metal stick of some sort.

"What's that?" I asked.

"What's it look like? It's metal," said the nurse. "I found this while gathering herbs around the Fire Territory near the mountains, but that is not the point. Watch."

The nurse held up the metal stick in front of Matt, face. Matt watched her with interest, not really knowing what to expect, like me.

Then, the nurse tossed up the metal stick into the air. The metal flipped around, doing a few circles. . .then flew straight towards Matt's chest as if an invisible hand pulled it towards him.

The stick slammed itself on Matt's chest, almost knocking the air out of him, and making him stumble to his back. Matt quickly got back up to his feet (almost popping a hole in the roof of the hut because of his height) and tried to pull off the metal stick that stuck to his chest.

"Get it off! Get it off!" shouted Matt, freaking out. "What did that thing do to me? What's happening?!"

"Does he have to call me 'thing'? After all, it's you who told us not to call him that," said the nurse.

"What was that?!" I shouted in shock, ignoring the nurse's last comment. "He's. . .magnetic or something?"

The nurse sighed and explained.

"I think he's more. . .electro-magnetic, but how he became electro-magnetic is beyond me."

Matt kept prying at the metal stick on his chest, trying to pull it off. Eventually, he was able to get his fingers underneath the metal and pulled it off of him. I saw as the metal was ripped off of his chest, a few yellow sparks came out.

Matt, now relieved that the metal stick is off of his chest, was about to throw the stick away. . .but now the metal stick was stuck to his hand and refused to come off.

"Well. . .If I hadn't known any better, I would've said that he's charged," I said, watching Matt struggle with the metal stick. "But I'm still not sure if that can even happen to humans."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," said the nurse.

The nurse pondered for a moment, then asked me something.

"Did anything happen to this human while you were with him?" she asked.

I thought about it for awhile. Of course a bunch of stuff happened to the both of us, but what would've happened that would make him like this? What could've happened to Matt that's made him so charged?

"Well," I started. "He did get shot a couple of times. . .once he was knocked out for awhile. . .and then—"

I paused. . .for that was when I remembered the Decadence. I remember Matt fighting back by using his fist. . .that was somehow filled with electricity!

"Then what?" asked Buneary, listening to us.

"It's just. . .I remember while bringing Matt over here through the sea. . .we met a Decadence," I said.

Both the nurse and Buneary gasped at hearing that.

"A Decadence?" asked the nurse. "How did you two survive?"

"That's what I'm getting to," I said.

So, I told them the story. I told them what happened when the Decadence attacked and when Matt threw an electric fist at the Decadence's Hyper Beam.

"So then this started even before he came to this island," said the nurse, pondering what she had just heard.

"I still can't believe you went up against a Decadence!" said Buneary. "Please, what happened after that? Were you able to fight it off?"

The Buneary looked up at me with great big eyes. I have never seen such eyes look like that before, so I had to tell her what else happened.

However, before I could, the nurse stopped me with another question.

"Wait. If the human was able to do such an attack as that. . .then that must mean that he was a bit charged before," the nurse concluded. "Tell me. . .when the human was shot, did you do anything to him to treat the wounds?"

"Of course," I said.

"Like what? What did you do?"

"Well, I had to clean the wounds first, so I—"

And that's when I realized it. I could see in the nurse's eyes that she realized it too.

"I. . .I shocked him into the wound. . ." I said, slowly realizing what is going on.

"And when you brought him here, you shocked him again in the heart to jump start it!" said the nurse.

Now Buneary joined in, also understanding what was happening.

"And all of those spots where the places that were glowing!" she said.

I was almost smiling at figuring this out, but then stopped smiling as another question popped.

"But. . .I don't understand," I said.

"Neither do I," admitted the nurse. "But I have a theory. It's just a guess, but I think it's pretty close. What if all of that electricity you used on this human. . .is still in him?"

"Still in him? How?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"I don't know. . .but I do have another theory," said the nurse. "What if this human somehow rapidly adapted to your electricity? Almost to the point to where he can't live without it?"

The thought struck me. It was a risky theory. . .but it was the only one we have.

All of the electricity I've used on him to save his life. . .could it possibly be the same electricity that is making him so charged? If so. . .does that mean that Matt could also use electric attacks like me?

Matt was still trying to pull off the metal stick off of his hand. I walked over to him and held out my paw for him to see. He looked down at me, hesitated on what he should do, then held out his hand with the metal stick still on it.

I grabbed the metal. . .then had to yank my paw away as a strong static surge went through my arm.

"He is charged," I said.

Matt, noticing that he hurt me, pulled his hand back. He looked worried.

"Pikachu!" he cried. "I'm so sorry. . .I. . .I didn't mean it."

"It's okay, it's okay," I said, trying to calm him down.

I put out both of my paws, and waved them towards the ground, trying to use some sort of body language for him to understand. Matt just scrunched up his eye brows at me. . .he didn't understand. . .but he did calm down.

"Did that really hurt you?" asked Eevee.

I looked at him.

"What? The shock? Not much, really," I reassured him. "But I'm just real worried about him now. Most of my kind that become charged get in continuous pain. . .but right now he seems fine."

I looked over at Buneary.

"Does it just turn on and off for him?" I asked her.

She thought about it, then nodded.

I nodded back.

"I had a feeling that was what was happening. If Matt doesn't get that electricity out of him somehow, then. . ." I paused.

What would happen? It's never been heard of someone dying from being charged for too long. But then. . .Matt is a human, so who knows what could happen.

"Then we need to find a way to fix this," finished the nurse.

I just nodded my head towards her.

"Now," continued the nurse. "How does a Pikachu or any electric Pokémon become un-charged when they are charged?"

"Well," I started. "Mainly we just try to get it all out at once."

The nurse nodded her head.

"That's what I thought. But this leads to a problem. If this human is, in fact, charged, and if the only way for him to become un-charged is by letting out all of his electricity, how will we tell him that? More importantly, does this human even know how to use his new ability so he can let out all of the electricity?"

The nurse was right. Matt still can not understand our language, so how can he know what is going on or what to do? And how can we teach him how to bring out his electricity?

Then again, would using electricity act the same with a human as it would with a Pikachu like me?

"He can't understand us?" asked my Eevee friend.

I turned to him.

"No. That's another thing that's odd. We can understand human speech, but they apparently don't understand Pokémon," I explained.

Eevee pondered that for a while. . .then walked right in front of Matt.

"Hey you stupid, overgrown, pink, punk!" shouted Eevee right in Matt's face.

"Hey!" I warned him.

Eevee just turned his head to face me.

"You said he doesn't understand us, so what's there to loose?" he smiled.

I sighed and looked up at Matt. Sure enough, he was completely lost in what Eevee had just said. He looked down at me with a half smile.

"Um. . .is this how you say hi?" he asked me.

I'm sorry, but I had to laugh at that. Eevee and Buneary joined me while the nurse held it in with a small chuckle. Matt looked even more lost than before. He even tried to make a fake laugh with us just to try to fit in. . .poor guy.

I eventually calmed down as everyone else did. A few tears formed in my eyes from laughing so much, so I wiped them away.

"Oh. . ." I said, calming down. "Yeah, we need to find a way to fix this. But how are we supposed to do it? Teach him our language?"

The nurse chuckled a bit more, then calmed herself down enough to talk again.

"No. I don't suppose that will work," she said. "But this is a pickle."

Eevee took a few more glances at Matt, examining how he looked, then looked back over at me.

"What about through his mind?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked him back.

My friend took some steps closer to me then sat down on the ground.

"What do you mean, 'what do I mean'? I'm talking about mind talk! What's it called? Telekinesis!" he said.

Now the nurse was catching on.

"I think he might have a point," she said.

I turned to her.

"How? He doesn't understand our language! Plus, none of us even know how to do a move like that."

The nurse grinned and waved a finger at me.

"You forget, I've met just about everyone on this island, so I know all kinds of abilities and how they work thanks to me talking to each and every one of my patients," she explained. "And one of the things I have learned is that when it comes to the mind, there is no language."

No language?

"What do you mean?"

The nurse hesitated on how to explain it. . .then shrugged her shoulders and looked back over to me.

"Well, that's about it, really. There is no language in your volunteer."

She thought a bit more on how to explain it, then talked again.

"Think of it this way: when you were a mere infant, before you even knew how to talk, you still had thoughts, correct?"

"Um. . .yeah," I answered, trying to understand.

"Then there you go!" the nurse said. "Obviously you still had thoughts, maybe not in exact words or anything, but still had thoughts. The same goes with every mind. Everyone has thoughts, some are just feelings while other are words, but either one has no distinct language inside the mind."

I kind of understood it now. . .but it was still confusing. So, just to save further time, I simply nodded my head.

"Okay, so language isn't an issue, but being able to actually do telekinesis is! I highly doubt anyone in this room can do such a move," I said.

Now, Buneary took a step forward.

"Maybe not, but the Psychic Tribe can. I'm sure that at least one of you know someone that can help us in the Psychic Tribe. Why, there were four of them here when we helped Matt. Why not ask one of them?" she suggested.

"What a brilliant idea!" exclaimed Chansey. "However, the four that volunteer here will not be able to help."

"Why not?" asked Eevee.

"Each of them are preparing themselves for the tournament. Remember, only one Pokémon from each tribe can make it to the finals," explained the nurse.

Then, the nurse turned towards me.

"Isn't it true that you know someone else from that tribe? Hopefully someone that is not participating in the tournament?" she asked me.

I thought about it. There was one person. . .but should I show him Matt? Would he agree to help?

_He has helped you out all of the other times you have asked. Why would he say no?_

Well, because I would be bringing a human with me.

_True. But you should have some trust in him, at least. He has never let you down before._

I do have a lot of trust for him. . .it's just. . .

I sighed to myself. This is exactly what I was debating with myself when I wanted to tell my Eevee friend about Matt.

But this is the Alakazam that befriended you. He told you his theories. Some of them might've been. . .different, while others really made you think. You have to at least have a bit of faith with him.

I shook my head. You're right. . .you're right.

Was has happened to me? Ever since I've brought Matt home with me, it's like I don't trust anyone anymore. I mean, this Buneary was just someone I had bumped into. I didn't even know her at first! But here I am, not trusting my closest friends!

"Yeah," I eventually said. "I know someone. . .but I'm not sure if he can help or not."

"Well, the best thing to do is to check," said the nurse. "Where would he be right now?"

I pondered it for a bit.

"He should still be way over at the Psychic Tribe's territory. I don't know if he's helping putting up the tournament or not, but I'm pretty sure he's too old to participate in it," I said.

Chansey slapped her hands together.

"That's it, then! Since the Psychic's territory is so far away and everyone is probably all up and about at this time, you all should stay here and rest. Then, when it is night time and everyone is asleep, that is when you all will bring the human over to the psychic's to get this all fixed up."

"Wait. . . 'you all'?" repeated Eevee. "Does that mean that we're all going?"

The nurse nodded her head.

"You, her, and him," she said, pointing to Eevee, Buneary, and me. "This young one will need all of the help he can get, I'm sure of it."

Chansey walked over to Matt, grabbed his hand that had the metal sticking to it, and yanked it off of him.

"Besides," she continued. "I have a feeling that talking to this human will become more important than telling him to be un-charged."

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

She looked over at me and smiled, wiggling the metal stick in her hands.

"I guess we will all find out sooner or later, now wont we?"


End file.
